


Through the Woods.

by kotabear24



Series: #Kinkprompt [11]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Blow Jobs, Dom Harry, Harry Has Long Hair, Harry is a nature freak, Hiking, I mean LIGHT, Kink Negotiation, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Nature, Oral Sex, Relationship Negotiation, Semi-Public Sex, University Student Louis, big brother Louis, sex shyness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 17:06:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13575069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kotabear24/pseuds/kotabear24
Summary: It all started with a cat.Well, actually, it started with the girls' summer camp cancelling and leaving Louis panicking about how he'd be able to work. It started with All Souls Nature Hiking. It started with a mountain man and a boat load of animals and adults surrounding his sisters as they trekked through the woods.But really, it all started with Sam, the hiking cat.





	Through the Woods.

Louis slapped at the alarm clock, groaning as it rang shrilly. He opened his eyes, glaring at the offensive piece of technology on his bedside table, and wanted to cry when he read 4:00 on the glowing light. Such small, tiny numbers. 

He got up, though, and threw some clothes on, and went to the bathroom to piss. He could wait to brush his teeth; it was just his mom who would see him at this hour.

Louis walked into the kitchen, picking up cups from the night before (it had been movie night in the living room) as he went. Depositing the cups into the sink, he pulled out the blender and started making his mum’s breakfast smoothie. 

Two cups of milk, some protein, a shitload of fruit, and some peanut butter. Easy enough, every single day. Louis didn’t know why his mom wouldn’t just have a bowl of cereal every once a while. Whatever. 

Louis blended it, wincing at the noise, like always, even though he knew the girls would sleep right through the noise, having gotten used to it as tiny babies. He poured the smoothie into the biggest tumbler cup he could find in the cabinets, screwing the lid on tight, and began boiling water for some tea. 

Just as the water started bubbling, his mom came in, rushing, like usual. Jay’s scrubs were a pastel pink today, and her shirt had ice cream cones on it. Her hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, a headband keeping any flyaways from getting in her face. She was wearing makeup today.

“Morning,” Louis rasped, kissing her cheek. 

“Morning, Boo,” she answered, obviously tired but in a good mood nonetheless. She’d been rather excited to get to work, recently; Louis suspected there was a hot new employee. Maybe a surgeon; that money would be nice. “Last week of taking the kids to school; then summer camp starts!”

“Whoo,” Louis cheered weakly, earning a chuckle from Jay. “Sleeping in will be _so_ nice,” he admitted with a laugh. 

“You do so much for us,” Jay started, but Louis shook his head. 

“No,” he said resolutely, though with a smile. “It’s too early for sentimentality, and your gratitude is too unnecessary. They’re my girls, too. I can take the turds to school on my way to work. It’s fine. Now,” he finished, not letting her get a word in edgewise, “you’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up. Don’t forget to get something tasty with lunch today, as it’s a Monday, and don’t forget your smoothie. Made with love.”

Jay laughed, but followed his orders, taking her smoothie into her hand and grabbing her keys with the other. “Love you,” she called softly as she walked out the door. 

“Love you, too,” Louis answered from the entryway. He shut the door and locked it once his mom left the driveway, and with a tired yawn, returned to the kitchen. He made sure to grab his backpack on the way up. 

Early mornings were par for the course for Louis: he was the oldest of five, with four younger sisters ranging seven to sixteen, and his mom was a single parent after their dad left them a few years back. Jay was a nurse, and Louis was finishing his second-to-last year of college, wanting to be an RN, himself. Being twenty-two and still living at home probably would have embarrassed him a few years ago, but after his dad left, Louis threw pride out the window. It was cheaper and more practical for him to stay home. The girls were too young to take care of themselves, excepting Lottie, and Louis refused to make Lottie grow up so young. 

As Louis drank his tea, he reviewed his last final paper, due at noon, for the semester. It was a good paper, if he said so himself, and after only a few minor adjustments, he submitted it. 

Just as he was about to shut it with a resounding _click_ (and resisting the urge to throw it out the window, glad to be done with coursework for a few months), his laptop _ping_ ’d with an email notification. Curiously, Louis opened the email and read on, dread growing in his stomach with each passing moment. 

_Dear Campers,_

_We regret for the short notice of this email, but we must share sad news. Due to unforseen circumstances, Camp KDS will be unable to operate this summer. Your deposits will all be returned in full by the end of May. We apologize deeply. Please respond with any questions and we will answer as soon as possible._

_Thank you for your understanding,_

_Staff at Camp KDS_

Louis’ decent mood took a steep drop. The camp was the only way Louis could work. With the girls in camp from nine to four, Louis was free to work after dropping them off, at times picking them up, as well, depending on his mother’s schedule. 

His first instinct was to call his mother, his second Zayn, but he knew neither of them would answer. His mom would be at work by now, and Zayn would kill him if he woke him up, and he wouldn’t be able to think of anything useful, in any case. Not so early. He also didn’t want to stress his mother out unnecessarily. Louis allowed himself exactly two minutes of panic and stress before he straightened up, downed the rest of his tea, and pulled the laptop closer. It was time to start Googling.

\---

“‘All Souls Nature Hiking’?” Zayn read the screen with his usual lack of emotion showing on his face. 

They were sitting at the cafe on campus, munching on Chick-fil-A, which Zayn got at a discount because he worked there. Louis worked at the campus store and mailroom, just downstairs. All around them, students were loud and noisy, celebrating being done for the semester. The quieter students were in the library and downstairs in the store. 

“It was the only thing that looked halfway reputable and was somewhat similar to KDS,” Louis answered, voice verging on a whine. “The girls _love_ all the nature, hike-y, swim-y shit.”

“‘ _Explore nature in a competition-free environment! All ages and abilities welcome. Socialize like-souled beings with a natural backdrop_ ’.” Zayn’s voice was monotonous and he looked up at Louis. “This sounds a bit…”

“Hippy-dippy bullshit?” Louis supplied. Zayn snorted. “I know. I agree. But this dude does nature hikes, swimming, fishing, teaches classes...it’s an all-day thing. The girls would be around all kinds of people, and apparently be exposed to some kind of...animal life, I’m assuming?” He finished. 

“No, yeah, I’m with you,” Zayn said, finally voicing his opinion. He was regularly slow to voice it, but he always gave Louis honesty. “It’s shitty of the camp to give you guys a week and a half’s notice.”

Louis nodded, shoving a chicken strip in his mouth and nearly inhaling it when it burned the roof of his mouth. 

“So, when does it start?”

“Next Wednesday, so I’ll only need to switch shifts for Monday and Tuesday.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Zayn said, wiping his mouth. “They can hang with me and the girls on Monday. Li might be able to take them Tuesday; I’ll ask.”

Louis bit his lip. He could really use the money, but… “It’s not your job to take care of them,” he argued, shaking his head. 

Zayn looked at him, face bored and expressionless. “When did I say it was?” He asked flatly. Louis knew better than to argue with that voice. 

He sighed. “Thank you.”

“‘Course.”

\---

“Alright, you all have your phones, right?” Louis triple-checked as he pulled into the parking lot of Wekisa Park. The last thing he needed was for them to be miserable, or something, and not be able to get ahold of Louis.

“Yes, Louis,” the girls chorused together, clearly tired of his shit. 

“Just checking, just checking,” he defended himself. 

“Do you _really_ think Harry knows lots about the nature animals?” Daisy squeaked, interest piqued since Louis had told them he’d been emailing their hike leader.

“He said he’s got a degree in animal conservation and forestry, so probably,” Louis reasoned. “And he hikes this park all the time, too.”

Louis hadn’t liked the idea of dropping off his little sisters with someone he didn’t know, letting them wander off into the wilderness together. Sure, he could see on the site that there were six other people who were in the hiking party, but that hadn’t done much to help Louis’ nerves over the whole thing. So, Louis’d emailed the guy. 

Harry seemed like a nice man, clearly well-educated and knowledgeable about the forest park, and was experienced in hiking, having done it since he was a child - his mother hiked professionally (whatever that meant), and had even climbed Mount Fuji and Kilimanjaro, and Harry recalled his mother dragging him and his older sister on hikes year round when they were younger. Over the last few days, Harry had assuaged Louis’ fears that something bad would happen to his girls a bit. 

Still, when Louis parked the car, he got out with them and, holding the twins’ hands, walked over to a small wooden table, where a few young adults and one older man were sitting. 

“Hi, there,” one of the young women waved, smiling at the girls. 

“Hey,” Lottie spoke for them. 

Louis surveyed the group. They young adults were all unfairly pretty. The girl who had spoken was beautiful - dark-skinned with natural, curly, wild hair tied back in a giant, poofy bun, and a bandana headwrap covered most of her head. She had big eyes, and was wearing leggings with mesh cutouts that showed how toned her body was. She wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a sports bra, but Louis saw she had a shirt thrown over her shoulder. 

Another girl, sitting next to her, was lighter-skinned and had pastel pink, wavy hair that reached her stomach. She was thicker, but still clearly in shape, and Louis was beginning to wonder if the girls would survive this camp. They were thin, yes, but not exactly star athletes. The woman was also stunning, her short nose a bit out of place on her face but otherwise flawless. She was covered completely, but her clothes were form-fitting. 

The young man sitting on top of the table was...out of this world. He had long hair, that much Louis could tell, but it was up in a tight bun behind his head. His face was angular, but still incredibly manly, and his jawline made Louis want to cry. His eyes were friendly and a deep green color, and his lips were luscious and pink. He smiled at them and Louis noticed giant dimples carving space for themselves in his cheeks.

With effort, Louis forced himself to look toward the older man. His hair was also a bit long - Louis errantly wondered if that was a rule for the group, too - and starting to silver, though it was down, cascading near his shoulders. His almond-eyes were brown, but friendly, and he was holding a sturdy walking stick with a backpack over his shoulders. Clearly the leader.

Louis noticed there were tattoos on everyone, and wished he had time to look at them properly to satisfy his curiosity. 

The older man stepped forward, friendly and welcoming. “Hello,” he said, grasping Louis’ hand. 

“Hi,” Louis answered. “I’m Louis Tomlinson; these are my sisters, who will be joining you this summer. That’s Lottie,” Lottie smiled and waved, “Felicite,” Felicite just offered a quiet smile and a head nod, “Daisy,” he laughed as Daisy jumped in her spot and waved, earning a chuckle from the group, “and Phoebe.” Phoebe waved emphatically, but stood still. “They were originally going to be at Camp KDS for the summer, but the camp isn’t open this year, so.”

“Well, we’re glad to have you,” said the gorgeous man at the table, standing up to shake the girls’ hands. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said, addressing the whole gang. 

Before he could make proper introductions, Louis’ alarm went off, and he swore quietly to himself. “I’m so sorry to cut this short,” Louis said, begged, really, facing the sweet older man. “They’re great girls; they each have their phones and a list of emergency numbers in case anything happens. They all have water and snacks in their bags, as well as a mini first aid kit thing and sunscreen and bug spray. You won’t have a problem with any of them, right, girls?” He finished, directing a warning look to his sisters, who nodded. “Awesome. I’m going to be late for work and James might actually kill me, so -” Louis kissed each of their foreheads - “I love you, I’ve got to go, and I’ll be here by four-thirty, no later. Alright? Be good. Be safe. Have fun. Connect with nature. Bye, it was really nice to almost-meet all of you!” Louis couldn’t even spare the time to get one last look at the gorgeous man who’d shaken his sisters’ hands and shown them respect like they were adults; he was _seriously_ going to be late. 

\---

Louis had been a nervous wreck the entire day, checking his phone a million times and at every break possible, earning a thump on the head from James a time or two. His phone stayed silent, though, save a picture from Felicite of Daisy being helped over a giant root by the gorgeous man, both smiling. Louis noticed there were two dogs in the picture, and an eyebrow went up, but Felicite had only captioned the photo _Everyone in the group is so nice!! Thanks Lou_ , and left it at that. Louis assumed nobody was being axe-murdered, and tried to focus on work. 

If he sped a bit to pick the girls up, nobody had to know. 

At four-twenty-eight, Louis pulled into the Wekisa Park parking lot, parking among the rest of the cars, and breathed a sigh of relief, because everyone was there. There were a few more people than Louis had met that morning, but Louis remembered that the group was supposed to be eleven strong, including Harry. 

Louis got out of his car, noticing a young Asian man shutting the back doors of what looked like a delivery van and quieting the sounds of a few barking dogs - Louis supposed that explained the dogs in Felicite’s pictures - and headed back toward the group. 

“Louis!” 

Louis nearly got knocked over by two very sweaty, dirty seven-year-olds, who ran up and hugged his waist. The group all turned to look at Louis, chuckles and warm smiles taking over. 

“Hey!” Louis said enthusiastically, silently scanning their bodies for any apparent trauma. Phoebe had a band-aid on her elbow, but nothing worse than dirty pants were apparent on them. Louis plucked a pine needle out of Daisy’s hair and dropped it to the ground. “How was it?” He asked, squatting down to speak to them. 

The floodgates opened and Louis only pretended to understand the two completely different conversations he was apparently in. Thankfully, they slowed down, and Louis was able to stand up and grab their hands, heading over to the rest of the group. 

“Hey, Louis,” The gorgeous man greeted. 

“Hey, hi,” Louis said, feeling a bit winded. For safety, Louis looked over at Felicite, only to notice she was in conversation with Harry and the younger Asian man Louis had noticed earlier. Lottie, then. 

“How was it?” Louis asked her, relieved that she seemed in one piece. 

“It was great,” she said happily. “We got some really awesome pictures, and Harry said tomorrow, we could stop by one of the watering holes and see if we can see any animals. And if not, we could maybe even swim!”

“That’s cool, wow,” Louis said, genuinely impressed. That sounded like a lot of fun. 

“It was a really great day,” the gorgeous man inserted himself into their conversation, looking eager. “Especially for a _first_ day. The girls kept up really well; usually first-timers need more breaks.”

“Oh, have you done this before?” Louis asked, interested. The man certainly _looked_ fit. 

He looked confused, though, and a little amused. “I - yeah, I’ve...done this a time or two,” he said, giving a short huff of laughter. Louis felt like he was missing something. 

“Oh, sorry; I don’t get to hike a lot,” he said awkwardly, trying to make up some reason why he wouldn’t know who the man was.

“It’s all good,” he said, though, shrugging. “You should join. I usually like to cap the group off at about ten, but I could make an exception, if you wanted to come with us when you can.”

Louis frowned, completely lost. “I think I should ask Harry about that,” he laughed awkwardly, nodding his head toward Felicite’s conversational partners. 

The man furrowed his brows, and Lottie snorted. “Lou, _this_ is Harry,” she said, looking confused. She nodded toward the gorgeous man. 

“I - _you’re_ Harry?” Louis felt like a cinderblock had just fallen on his head. This gorgeous man was in charge of this whole thing?

“Yes?” The gor- Harry replied, looking only a little less confused. 

“I - oh,” Louis said, feeling a little hot in the face. “I thought _he_ was Harry,” he admitted. “The, uh - the older man.”

Harry threw his beautiful head back and laughed, loud and long. “No, that’s John. He’s kind of the group dad. Here, I’ll - I’ll make the introduction circuit.” He touched the point in between Louis’ shoulders gently with his hand, turning him around a bit. “So, that’s John, and his son, Steve. Steve works at a pet rescue, and we met when I did an interview assignment freshman year in college. I was already doing the hiking thing for money, but me and Steve decided we could start doing it with some of the dogs - get them socialized, desensitized to things that might scare them, get them some exercise, and give my hikers a chance to see some dogs who might make great pets. Kind of worked out really well, right?” Louis nodded. “Steve brings dogs every morning.”

Steve had _long_ hair, dark as night, that fell straightly down to his belt line, and beautiful facial hair. His eyes were a carbon copy of dad’s, almond shaped and brown and friendly, and he was currently smiling at Felicite in a way that made Louis grin. 

“That’s Leigh Anne, her roommate, Jesy - you met them both this morning. Next to Leigh Anne is her girlfriend, Jade, and Jade’s best friend, Perrie, the blonde.”

Jade was pretty, too, with coffee-colored skin and a sharp nose, her brown eyes big and heavily lined with makeup and long eyelashes. She had pretty long hair, too, braided into twin boxer braids, which Daisy was currently touching, pretending they were paintbrushes and ‘painting’ on her palm. Perrie was pale, with light blonde hair pulled into low pigtails by her ears, her hair not quite shoulder length. She had quite a few piercings, and Louis saw with a wince that she had a piercing on the back of her neck when she turned around to thump Jade’s cheek playfully, Phoebe laughing loudly from her perch on Leigh Anne’s shoulders.

“Are my girls the only kids?” Louis asked, wondering if they felt left out or awkward.

“Yep!” Harry said with a smile. “But don’t worry about them - we all seriously love kids. Leigh Anne and Jade are actually in training right now to be foster parents, Perrie is an aunt, and John is actually an elementary school teacher. Second grade, I think. Jesy just loves everyone, and Steve is the chillest guy you’ll ever meet.”

Louis nodded, but still worried a bit. He didn’t want them to get tired of the girls, and make the girls feel weird. 

“Really,” Harry said softly. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t let anyone into the group who is uncomfortable around people of all ages. The point of the group is to expand horizons and make friends outside of your own age groups...and species, I guess,” he added with a laugh. 

Louis felt himself relax, and Felicite walked over. “Yo,” she said dryly, but Louis knew she was glad to see him. 

“Hey, homie,” he answered back, wrapping an arm around her waist. “You about ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she said, “we were thinking we could cook for Mom before she gets home.”

“Oooh, that’d be fun,” Harry said, looking proud, for some reason. 

Felicite smiled, pleased, and nodded. “I’ll go tell the girls to get all their stuff.”

“Thanks,” Louis called. He looked back at Harry and smiled, then, noticing with a light blush that Harry was already smiling at him. “Thank you, Harry,” he said. At Harry’s confused look, Louis elaborated, allowing himself to be serious for a moment. “If the girls didn’t have anywhere to go, I wouldn’t be able to work, and - well. It’s really nice of you to open up the camp to take the girls on such short notice.”

“It was perfect, really,” Harry demurred. “Seriously - I was hoping we’d get some kids. Partially because I love kids, but also because, you know, dogs need to know how to act around kids, and also because I really, truly think having kids and younger people around is good for the soul, for the heart. And, you know,” he shrugged again, “having kids and introducing them to nature and teaching them how to appreciate it safely and kindly...it’s honestly what I want to do, like, for the rest of my life, if I’m completely honest.”

“Really?” Louis said, interested. “That sounds really cool.”

“Yeah, I -”

“We’re ready, Lou,” Daisy sang as she made her way over, Phoebe right next to her, as usual. Felicite and Lottie followed up, and Louis could take a hint. They were tired. He gave Harry a half-apologetic smile, and told the girls to get in the car. 

“See you tomorrow, then,” he said, and Harry’s smile grew. 

“Awesome! See you tomorrow.”

Louis turned to follow the girls to the car, and was surprised to hear a chorus of ‘bye, guys!’ follow him. He turned and waved goodbye to everyone, heading to the car, where the girls were already buckling in.

On the way home, Louis turned down the music and asked the girls, “So, now that we’re away from everyone, what did you _really_ think?” When the girls all looked at one another in silence, Louis added, “Honestly. Tell me honestly. If you don’t like it, we can find something else. I won’t be upset, and neither will Mom. We want you guys to have a really awesome summer.”

“Lou,” Lottie said slowly, “we were being serious. We all talked about it at lunch; we really like it. All of us.”

Louis looked at the girls in his rearview mirror sternly. “You’re sure?” He verified. 

“Don’t be silly, Louis,” Daisy exclaimed. “It was the best ever!”

“Oh,” Louis said, a little dumbly. “You’re positive?”

“Yeah!” Phoebe nodded so emphatically that her whole body shook in her booster seat. “It was _loads_ of fun!”

“And everyone is really nice,” Felicite chimed in.

Louis noticed Lottie nodding contentedly along with her sisters’ words. He looked back into the mirror. “Dais? What about you?”

“I’m _in love_ ,” she said dramatically, clearly having been waiting for the question.

Louis chuckled. “With the camp?” He asked, glad she was happy.

“With _Leigh Anne_ ,” she corrected, going a little starry-eyed. “She’s so _pretty_ , and her skin is so _soft_.”

Louis snorted, but let her natter on about Leigh Anne’s perfection. He was half-listening once he got onto the highway, focusing a bit more in the five o’clock traffic, when he heard the girls’ talking quiet down a bit. Wanting to keep the girls’ spirits up enough that they’d still be down to cook Mom her dinner, he asked, “What are your favorite parts about the camp so far?”

“ _I_ like all the gorgeous waterscapes,” Lottie said right off the bat, not having to think. She always loved a good landscape.

A bit quieter, Felicite added, “I really like Steve. And John. They’re – really nice, and, like, Steve is _really_ into animal rights activism.”

Right up her alley, then. “Dais?” Louis prompted after showing the admiration for Lottie and Felicite’s answers.

“I like Leigh Anne,” she said, as if Louis were stupid for even asking. She always did attach to one person rather strongly, Louis supposed, and he laughed because it was so cute. He’d have to keep an eye on it, though, to make sure Leigh Anne didn’t feel obligated to be her personal entertainment.

“What about you, Phoebs?”

Phoebe thought to herself a moment before gasping, and proudly declaring, “I like Sam!”

Instantly, all the girls wanted to change their answers to ‘Sam’, as well, leaving Louis confused. “Who’s Sam?”

“Sam the cat,” Lottie replied, as if that cleared everything up. “We’ll show you the videos on YouTube later,” she added.

Louis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. They go out on an all-day hike and come back obsessed with some stupid YouTube cartoon cat? Honestly. “Sounds great,” he said, a bit amused at his sisters’ silliness.

\---

Over the rest of the week, Louis spoke with Harry a few more times, getting to know the man he was entrusting with his sisters’ care. Louis was able to work without worrying, get home most night in time to have dinner cooked for his mom, and even had energy to go out with Zayn and Liam, if they could drag the latter man out from his summer work study.

The next few weeks flew by. The girls were having a wonderful time, always coming up to Louis with smiles when he picked them up and loaded with forest-y information. Several times, the girls had said it was probably the best summer camp they’d ever been to, and thanked Louis for letting them go. All in all, it was shaping up to be a wonderful summer.

But they kept talking about the damn cat.

“Can you believe Sam is so smart?”

“Did you _hear_ how loud Sam meowed when he got stuck on that stick?”

“Look at this picture I got of Sam; he looks so majestic!”

Finally, Louis broke down. “Who the _hell_ is Sam?!” He nearly bellowed in the car one day. Silence greeted him.

“Sam the cat,” Lottie said, an echo of the first time the fucking cat was mentioned. Louis wanted to yank his hair out.

“But who _is_ he?” He pressed.

“He’s – it’s Sam, the hiking cat. Harry’s cat?”

“Sam, the _hiking cat_?” Louis repeated, sounding every bit as skeptical as he felt.

“Yeah, he’s Harry’s kitty cat. Harry saved him, and now Sam hikes all the time.”

Louis couldn’t believe his sisters were playing such an elaborate joke on him. Not even the twins had cracked a smile, and Daisy was the _worst_. Not a single one of them seemed amused; they just all looked confused at Louis’ hysterics.

“Harry has a cat,” Louis said flatly, “who is a rescue…and _hikes Wekisa Park_ with you, six other people, and a group of dogs?”

“…Yeah,” Lottie said, brows furrowed as she watched Louis look like a moron. “How have you _not_ met Sam? He’s, like, the friendliest cat ever. Even friendlier than the dogs.”

“I haven’t met the dogs, either,” Louis answered absent-mindedly. “They’re always shut up in the van by the time I get there.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

There was a moment of awkward silence in which the girls watched Louis like he was an idiot, and Louis watched the girls as if they’d clue him in on the punchline he clearly missed.

No such luck.

“Alright,” Louis said flippantly, trying to gain the upper hand back, “I’ll just demand to meet this Sam-the-hiking-cat tomorrow!”

All four girls chorused back with disinterested, “Okay”’s. They weren’t even worried about being caught in their story!

Louis wanted to punch himself in the face.

The next day, Louis drove to Wekisa Park as fast as he could, trying to beat the animal load-up to prove that Sam wasn’t real. When he got there, nobody was in the clearing at all for about three minutes. Just as Louis started wondering if he missed a memo, a spotty border collie ran through the brush and into the clearing. It saw Louis and went on point, freezing and staring Louis down. Louis wondered if he was about to get bitten.

“What’d you find, Poppy?” Came someone’s voice – Perrie, Louis thought, maybe, and the collie relaxed a bit, but didn’t take its – her – eyes off of Louis, her tail straight back and her body crouched low.

“Oh, Louis’ here already!” Finally, Perrie broke through and into the clearing, following Poppy, and found Louis waiting, frozen before the dog. She laughed. “Oh, don’t mind Poppy; she’s not going to attack. That’s her ‘ _I’m trying to decide if you’re going to run, because if you do, I’ll have to circle around you_ ’ look. She’s a cattle dog, so her job is to round up strays and stuff. It’s an instinct thing for her.”

“Gotcha,” Louis said, but he still didn’t move. When Perrie walked up to Poppy and pet her head, the dog relaxed, and so did Louis.

As the group emerged from the trail, they saw and greeted Louis, and the dogs – there were six of them, including Poppy – checked him out in their own ways. One stayed back, close to Steve, and looked from afar, and two ran over to Louis, sniffed him, and then walked back to the group; Poppy approached Louis with a low, wagging tail and a lowered head, and the other two barked playfully and ran around Louis, one of them even jumping up on him. They were all different kinds of dogs, but all adorable, and Louis wanted every single one of them.

“Hey, Louis,” Harry said, jogging over to him with an eager smile on his face. He was sweaty – enough that Louis thought maybe he could help by licking the sweat from his body before he shook himself – but still smelled good, and he lifted the collar of his shirt to wipe sweat from his face.

“Hey,” Louis answered, interrupted by a laugh when Poppy licked his knee hesitantly.

“You’ve met Poppy!” Harry said, looking delighted.

“Yeah,” Louis said happily, looking down at the pup before him, who had her ears back a little, looking nervous, but licked his hand nonetheless.

“She’s a bit anxious until she realizes you aren’t mad at her,” Harry said, a bit of a sad frown on his face. “She was abused at her first home until she was rescued.”

“That’s disgusting,” Louis said hotly, and crouched down to love on the dog, careful not to get in her face.

“It is,” Harry agreed, a grimace on his face. “She’s such a sweet dog; I don’t see how anyone could hurt animals.”

“Me neither,” Louis said, his voice going up as he looked at Poppy. She wagged her tail.

“So, that’s Poppy,” Harry said needlessly, and turned, pointing each of the dogs out. “The dogs by your sisters are Petunia and Pansy – Pansy is the brown one with the long ears; Petunia is the brindle one. This handsome devil is Penstemon,” he added, scratching the ears of a hound dog sitting on his haunches just behind Harry, “and Peony is the one running around like a dork, and – where’d – oh, there she is,” he laughed when a tiny little puppy stood on his foot. “This tiny little pup,” he said, bending over and picking up a tiny little Shih Tzu puppy, “is Poinsettia.”

“I’m noticing a trend, here,” Louis said with a bit of a laugh.

“Right,” Harry nodded with a grin. “Steve’s mom is a florist, so. They go through all the names of flowers she can think of when dogs are added. I feel bad for the next few dogs; I don’t imagine O-flowers have very beautiful names.”

Louis snorted, scratching Poppy carefully. He noticed she had a few bald spots on her coat, just a bit fuzzy where hair was clearly trying to grow back.

“What brings you back so early?” Harry asked. “Not that I mind, obviously,” he added quickly.

Louis laughed, scratching the back of his neck. He looked around the clearing; the girls were double-checking their bags, the twins running around and playing fetch with Petunia. Steve and John were already starting to open up the back of the van and pulling out leashes; the young women were chatting and scratching Pansy’s belly and calling Peony (to no avail). There were dogs and people, but certainly no cat. “It’s kind of embarrassing, actually,” he admitted, and Harry raised his eyebrows. Fuck, he was hot.

“I won’t make fun,” Harry vowed, but his eyes already looked amused. Louis didn’t trust that for a second.

Still, he said, “The girls keep talking about a _cat_. Like, they say you have a cat that hikes with you guys, and kept swearing that some fucking cat named Sammy hikes with you like it’s no big –“

“Sam, actually,” Harry interrupted.

Louis’ mouth dropped in shock. “I – what?”

“Sorry,” Harry said, “that was rude. I shouldn’t have interrupted. His name is Sam, though. What about him?”

Louis floundered. “You have a cat?”

“I have two, actually, but Catalie Portman is too old to come out, anymore.” Harry frowned.

“You have a cat named Catalie Portman?”

Harry nodded. “Yep! She’s stunning.”

Louis pursed his lips. “There’s no way you’re being for real,” he said.

Harry laughed. “No, I do! I got her right around the time the first _Thor_ movie came out. She did such a great job in that movie, don’t you think?”

Louis just stared. “I – I was talking about the hiking one!” He blustered.

“Oh,” Harry said, frowning. “Yeah, Sam had to get his shots, so my sister took him to the vet for me today so I wouldn’t have to cancel the hike for today. Sorry you haven’t met him, if you’ve been wanting to! If he’s feeling up to hike tomorrow, I’ll keep him out a bit longer.”

Louis glared. The girls must have roped Harry into this whole charade. He was smiling, looking like a fucking angel – an angel with a jawline made to be Louis’ throne and arms strong enough to pin Louis against a wall, but an angel nonetheless – while Louis glared.

“Sounds good,” he bit out, frustrated as hell.

\---

“Dude, it’s a fucking cat,” Liam said, staring at Louis like he was crazy. They were sitting in a bar later that night, and Louis had spent the better part of the last two beers complaining about Sam, the hiking cat, and his (gorgeous) stupid owner. “It’s not that big of a deal. So a cat walks some weathered down trails your seven-year-old sisters can walk. It’s not that special.”

“It’s not that the cat is particularly talented, Liam,” Louis whined. “It’s that it doesn’t even fucking exist! I’ve never seen this cat! But they’re all pretending like he’s just a regular pal.”

“Didn’t you meet the dogs for the first time today?” Zayn asked, a beer in his hand. Louis wanted to steal his beer just to spite him.

“The _point_ is that they’re all in on this big fucking joke!” Louis nearly screeched.

“So just catch them in their lie, or get over it,” Zayn replied, losing his patience with Louis’ cat obsession. “If you ignore the cat thing, they’ll get tired of trying to get you interested.”

Louis sighed. Zayn had a point. “You’re right,” he said. “I’m just gonna ignore it. It’s a nonexistent cat. Who cares? They’re just being goofy; it’s not a big deal. I’m gonna forget about the whole thing.”

\---

“What do you mean, Sam isn’t here today?” Louis groaned, exasperated. He’d left early to see this fucking cat. He was here on his fucking _day off_ to see this damn feline.

“Sorry,” Harry mourned. “Sam’s legs are still really sore and tender, so I wanted him to stay home today. I’m sorry! The girls tell me how obsessed you are with meeting Sam.” Harry genuinely looked regretful.

Louis could throttle his sisters. “Do they?” he mused, looking down at his sisters. Lottie and Felicite giggled and ran away, Daisy and Phoebe following them innocently. “Interesting.”

Harry nodded, excited. His bun flopped about on top of his head. “You should definitely come on a hike with us, some day, and see him in action!”

Louis scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’ll have a day off next week? I’m not exactly sure when, but I’ll let you know, if that’s okay.”

“Yeah! Yes! Okay! I mean,” Harry coughed into his fist, clearing his throat. Louis tried not to laugh at his blush; how was this guy so gorgeous and sexy one moment, and dorky and cute the next? “I mean, cool, yeah. Sure.”

“Sure,” Louis echoed, smirking just a tiny bit. Harry’s blushed deepened. “Uhm, do you – do you maybe want to give me your number so I c-“

“Yes,” Harry said emphatically, interrupting. Louis laughed a little, this time, and though Harry laughed at himself, he didn’t really seem to care about how embarrassing he was being. “Yeah.” He dug his phone out of a hidden pocket on his shorts and handed it over, unlocked, to Louis.

As he added his number and texted himself, Louis said, “Alright, cool. I can text you to let you know when I’ll be off work next week.”

“Or for whatever, you know,” Harry said, going for casual and missing it by a mile. He shrugged, though, grinning, and accepted the phone back. “You don’t just have to text me for that. It can be whenever. If you want, of course.”

“Of course,” Louis said, smiling. He was so _cute_! “I might just take to sending you random texts at three in the morning. We can have a discussion about how armadillos have an unnecessary amount of defense and offense mechanisms.”

Harry’s eyes lit up, amusement transforming his face beautifully. “I’ll be asleep, then, but we can totally have that conversation at some point. You sound like you have some serious views on it.”

Louis nodded, mock-serious. “I have some _incredible_ insights on whether or not snakes get sad because they can’t clap, too.”

“Stunning. Amazing. Oh!” Harry threw his head back and snapped his fingers like he was at a poetry reading, eyes shut tight like Louis’d said something revolutionary. Louis just thought he looked like he might be having an orgasm, with his mouth open wide like that and his cheeks still flushed.

Good lord. Louis needed to get his shit together.

\---

For the rest of the week, Louis woke up, packed the girls’ bags with water bottles and protein-filled snacks, along with plain lunches – turkey (ham for Felicite) sandwiches, a small tube of Pringles each, a piece of fruit, and a small candy bar, because they loved sweets – and made sure the First Aid kit Lottie’s bag had was filled with anything they could need, dropped in spare hairbands and a napkin, along with a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. He made their breakfasts and cleaned up the house from the nights before, woke them up, and got them and himself ready. He drove to Wekisa Park, and he dropped them off. He stayed to say hi to Harry and the others who were there as early as he was (usually John and Perrie; sometimes Leigh Anne was there, too), and went to work. He had lunches with Zayn, picked up the girls, let them go hang out with their friends until dinner, and hung out with his sisters and mom until the girls went to bed. He poured his mom a glass of wine, and went out with Zayn (and sometimes Liam) for a beer or two.

He absolutely did not text Harry.

It wasn’t that he was worried about anything – he just didn’t know what to _say_. He didn’t want to make an idiot of himself in front of Harry and have it change the way the girls’ summer was going. If things got awkward with Harry for _him_ , things would definitely get awkward for the girls.

The girls chatted about their new adult friends, the dogs, and Sam nonstop. Sometimes Lottie and Felicite would tell him tidbits about Harry, because they could tell Louis liked him a bit. Once, Phoebe mentioned that Harry asked about Louis every once in a while, especially when the girls talked about family.

Obviously, Louis knew Harry had a crush on him, or was at least interested in some way. He _knew_ that, but he also knew he didn’t really _know_ Harry.

“So get to know him, stupid,” Zayn said around his salad one night.

“Kind of hard to do that when I have a _job_ and four sisters to help with,” Louis reminded him in a sing-song voice.

“Your mom never asked you to be a mom to them, Louis,” Liam said.

The table went silent.

Louis took a long drink and put his beer down on the table with a thud, swallowed, and breathed in with a hiss through gritted teeth. “I know that, Liam,” he said, trying not to snap at his friend. Liam wasn’t trying to be a dick. Louis knew that.

Zayn watched with a warning in his eyes: it had been him who brought Liam into their tiny, two-person group, adding him tentatively a year and a half ago, and though Louis and Liam typically got along, their different personalities tended to grind at times, and Zayn was always the one to step in between them when their disagreements went too far. It didn’t help that Liam didn’t know the story behind his family’s situation.

“Do you?” Liam asked kindly, concerned. “You – you do everything, you know?”

“Because I want to,” Louis said truthfully. “My mom works her ass off, takes double shifts as much as they’ll let her, and I live at home, rent-free, and all I pay for is what I use myself. If I can help out more by making sure my sisters are taken care of while my mom is at work, I’m going to fucking do it.”

“Lou –” Liam seemed to finally realize he’d pissed Louis off. “I didn’t mean that you do too much, man, or that your mom doesn’t do enough, or anything. I meant, like – I meant that your mom would be thrilled if you took one night to go out and have dinner with a guy, you know? Or, hell, ask _us_! I love the girls; you _know_ I do. Zayn, too. We could have a pow-wow and watch movies, have a pizza party, whatever. I could take the twins to a baseball game, and Zayn could go out and take the older girls, or something. You _know_ we’d do it. Don’t turn this into me being a dick, because you know I’m not.”

Louis took a deep breath; Liam was right. “Sorry,” he muttered. “My bad.”

Liam pushed his beer over to Louis, and Louis knew he was forgiven. “Make it up to me by asking Harry out, dumbass.”

Louis rolled his eyes, but took the drink. He might just have to do that. To make amends, obviously.

\---

Sunday night, Louis got a text just as he put dinner in the oven and set the timer for forty minutes.

_How DO you feel about armadillos’ defense mechanisms?_

Louis let out a shout of laughter. He typed back, **You don’t even want to open this can of worms, man. Too much to text anyway!**

Right away, Harry answered. _Are you one of the many who doesn’t like phone calls?_

 **Nah** , he answered back, **I like the sound of my own voice too much to hate phone calls**.

A few minutes later, his phone vibrated with an incoming call, and, really, he should’ve seen it coming. It was stupid of him not to realize Harry was asking if Louis minded if he called.

Well.

Louis hit accept. “Listen, they’re _armored animals_ ; they don’t need razor-sharp claws, too!” He answered without so much as a greeting.

Harry rolled with it, though, not even sounding shocked. “Well, yeah, but the armor is a defense mechanism; the claws aren’t,” he answered.

Louis snorted. “Armadillos are _rooting_ animals. They’re _scavengers_. They need, claws, yeah, but they don’t need fuckin’ chivvs attached to their feet.”

Harry laughed, long and loud. “It’s an evolutionary tool, though!” He exclaimed. “They _clearly_ need something to protect them from dying out!”

Louis sat on the couch, propping his feet up and not even bothering to hide the grin on his face. There was nobody around to see it. “They get their food from the _dirt_ , Harry. They have the elongated snout for food, like anteaters have that weird tongue and tigers have big fangs. They’re equipped with enough right there. Armadillos can curl up into balls, they’re protected, and for little guys, they can actually run relatively fast. They’re also flight animals, not fight animals. It’s not like they’re ever going to turn around and scratch a predator; why have them?”

“The claws are for digging,” Harry said, “and slicing tree roots open so they can get the bugs and stuff that hang out inside there. Plus,” he added, sounding smug, “not all armadillos can curl into balls. That’s only a few different kinds. There are a crap load of different subspecies of armadillos.”

Louis’ jaw dropped. “You asshole,” he said, having to pretend to be pissed off. “You’re the _only person_ that has _ever_ beaten my armadillo argument!”

Harry guffawed and Louis heard some static over the phone, like Harry was breathing directly into it. “Sorry to break up your streak,” Harry said, a little breathless.

Louis snorted. “What are you doing?” He asked. “You sound like you’re running a marathon.”

Harry laughed, breathing quickly again. “No, not a marathon,” he answered, “I’m walking home from this bar-diner place my friend and I go to for dinner when we don’t feel like cooking.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Louis said.

There was quiet for a moment, and Harry said, “Yeah. I’m not usually a bar kind of person, but Niall goes there all the time, and it’s right down the street from our apartment, so we just go ahead. The owner, Lou, is really cool. Plus, her little daughter is really cute.”

Louis sat up straight. “Are you talking about Teasedale’s?” He asked, voice a bit hysterical.

“Yeah!” Harry answered brightly. “You’ve heard of it?”

This could not be happening. “I’m there almost every night of the work week. Are you serious? You live right by it?”

“Yeah!” Harry’s voice was blustering, clearly shocked at the coincidence. “Yeah, I’m right at Tapestry Apartments. Holy crap, that’s crazy!”

“Yeah,” Louis mumbled, lost in thought. This whole time, him and Harry had been in the same city. Teasedale’s was _maybe_ fifteen miles from his house. “Insane.”

“Did you –” Harry took a deep breath. “You’re – you’re probably busy, or something, but if you wanted, you could, like. Come over, if you wanted. When you’re done at the bar. Or – or whenever. You know. So you could meet Sam, I mean.”

Louis smiled, but his heartrate was going fast as hell. “I – I’d like that,” he said quietly, enough that he was worried he’d have to repeat himself.

No need, though. Harry breathed out heavily. “Okay,” he said. “Just – uhm, tonight? Or – I don’t know what your plans are, obviously…”

“I – no, yeah, I can come tonight,” Louis breathed. His face felt flushed and he didn’t even know why. Ridiculous.

“Okay! Cool! Uhm. Alright. Well. I’ll, uhm. I’ll let you go, and, just, you know. Text me when you’re on your way over?”

“Yeah, of course,” Louis said, looking down at himself. He’d definitely be changing before the bar tonight.

“Alright. Uhm. Bye, then,” Harry said, and laughed, for some reason.

Louis laughed back. “See you tonight, Harry,” he said, fondness leaking into his voice.

“See you.”

Louis hung up the phone and stared at it. Slowly, calmly, his left hand reached down and grabbed a small couch pillow, and drew it into his lap. He dropped his phone and gripped the pillow with both hands, and after a moment, swung the pillow right into his face, shoving it harshly against his skin, and screamed into it.

\---

“Holy shit, you look nice tonight,” Liam said when Louis turned up at the bar after dinner.

Louis rolled his eyes, but smirked. “Shut up,” he laughed.

“What’s the occasion?” Zayn asked. “Dressing up for little ol’ me?”

“You wish,” Louis shot back. “I’m going to Harry’s tonight after we’re done here.” He tried not to gush that bit of information, but couldn’t quite deny the excitement (and tiny bit of nerves) that were plaguing his stomach.

His friends ‘oooh’d in high pitched voices, but Louis could tell they were happy. As he sat down, he told them all about the phone conversation he’d had with Harry on the phone a few hours previously, and they spoke in all the right places, asking questions.

“So _he_ invited you over?” Zayn asked, his eyebrows risen. He looked impressed.

“Well, I’m not about to invite _myself_ over, am I?” Louis retorted. Liam and Zayn just glanced sideways at each other, completely silent, and Louis laughed. “I invite myself over to _your_ places, assholes,” he defended himself, “but we’re best friends. I barely _know_ Harry.”

“You’ve known him a month!” Liam exclaimed. “You _do_ know him!”

“But I haven’t been, like – we only speak at pick-up; we don’t even really talk at drop off, because I’m always in a hurry,” Louis protested. “We haven’t even texted until tonight.”

“Okay, you still know a lot about him,” Liam argued.

“I mean – I know he’s obsessed with Barack Obama,” Louis said, “and that he likes animals and hiking. And that he has two cats, Sam and fucking Catalie Portman.”

“What about his family?” Zayn asked, while Liam mouthed _Catalie Portman_ to himself.

“Uh, his mom is like a hiker, mountain-climber bad-ass, and he has an older sister and he grew up hiking with them together.” Louis was surprised he even remembered that; it was in the first conversation they’d ever had, over email.

“His job?” Liam prompted.

Louis racked his brain. “I – I don’t think I know, actually. I mean, obviously, this, in the summer – the hiking thing. I don’t know if he does anything else. He’s got a degree, though.”

“In what?”

“Like, forestry…stuff…and animal conservation.”

“What is he into?”

“I really don’t know,” Louis said, frowning. “Nature? I don’t know what he does for fun, how he eats…none of it. Oh, god,” Louis’ eyes widened. “Is this going to be insanely weird? Should I cancel?”

Before he could take his phone out to do just that, Zayn snatched his phone away. “Don’t be stupid,” he said sternly. “You’re going to go hang out with this hot hiker dude, and it’s going to be great.”

“Yeah, and you’ll finally meet the cat you’re obsessed with!”

“I just – I can’t believe there’s a _cat_ that _hikes_!” Louis said, distracted by Liam’s point.

“It’s settled, then,” Zayn said smugly, a smirk stretching his mouth. He snagged Louis’ beer, too. “You’ll stay sober, you’ll go out and have fun, and you’ll get to know him. It might be the start of a really awesome friendship.”

“Or more,” Liam added, eyebrows wiggling devilishly. Zayn snorted and threw in an over-exaggerated wink, but it was aimed at Liam, to make him laugh.

Louis pouted at losing his beer, but decided that that was fair enough, and grabbed a tea from the waitress when she came over next.

He ate his fries and joked with his friends, and around seven, sent a text to Harry - _Still down for company?_ \- halfway hoping Harry would cancel, himself.

 _Sure, come on over!_ Harry sent another text shortly after with his address, and Louis threw his money down on the table, saying his goodbyes to his friends.

“Good luck!” Liam said loudly, smiling.

“Go get that mountain man!” Zayn joked, quieter, and it made Louis snort.

The walk was a quick one, Harry’s place literally down the street, and five minutes later, Louis walked into the entrance of Tapestry Apartments, a small but clean row of apartment complex buildings that was about ten or so years old. The buildings themselves were tan and brown, and Louis glanced down at his phone to look for the right building. Finally locating it and walking toward it, he noticed that there were eight apartments in each building – four on the first story; four on the second – marked with a letter. Finding apartment D, Louis walked up to the door and knocked.

It opened not a second later, meaning Harry caught Louis fixing his hair and adjusting his shirt self-consciously, but it was okay, but Harry looked _gorgeous_. Louis had seriously underestimated how much hair was balled up into the bun during the hikes, because Harry had his hair down. It reached past his shoulders in waves, some errant curls disobeying and demanding to be seen. His hair begged to have fingers running through it. Or maybe pulling it.

Louis coughed and realized he was staring, his mouth open, even. How embarrassing. “Sorry,” he said, looking into Harry’s eyes. As soon as he spoke, though, _Harry_ jolted, and Louis realized he’d been staring at Louis, too. With a flush, he laughed at himself, looking down for a moment. “I, uh, I’ve never seen your hair down like that.”

Harry instantly lifted a hand up into it, like he was self-conscious suddenly. Dumbly, Harry fish-mouthed for a moment before blurting out, “I put it up. For the hikes, I mean.” He closed his eyes, then, and Louis tried to bite down his smirk at Harry’s embarrassment. “Obviously,” Harry said, sounding annoyed with himself.

“I like it,” Louis offered, and it made Harry smile.

“Thank you,” he said brightly, his dimples piercing his cheeks and his teeth blindingly white. “I’ve been growing it nearly two years.”

Louis appreciated it a moment more, appraising it, and decided that one day, he would _have_ to just be weird as hell and ask to touch it.

“Shit, sorry – come on in,” Harry said, opening the door wider. “You – I like your hair like that, too,” he added.

Louis’ hair was just down, just a little gel in it to give it texture so it wasn’t fully soft, but Louis appreciated it anyway. “Thanks, man,” he said as he walked in. “I keep it back so it doesn’t get in my face when I’m working.”

“I like it that way, too,” Harry said, like he was worried Louis felt bad. He shut the door behind them, but made no move to walk further.

“Thanks,” Louis repeated with a laugh.

They stood in the doorway and looked at each other for a moment, and Harry seemed to realize that he was the host, because he said, “Oh!” quietly to himself and started walking. “So, this is my apartment,” he said, gesturing around as he walked into the living room. “Niall lives right next to me, in C, which is nice. We’ve been best friends for a few years, now. Uh, this is the living room,” he said, waving uselessly, “and it connects to my tiny little dining room – I only ever eat in there when I’ve got people I’m trying to impress over,” he said with a crooked grin, making Louis laugh.

The living room had one blue wall, with a white couch with blue and green pillows and cherry wood shelves all over the place, filled with books and plants. It wasn’t cluttered or messy, but it was definitely full, and Louis wondered how long Harry had been living alone. It certainly looked like he’d been accumulating this stuff for years. The dining room had a table with four chairs, and one of the walls had a funky, organic kind of patterned wall paper trim along the top of it. There was another shelf filled with books, and a tiny baby bonsai tree in a blue pot was in the center of the table.

Harry kept walking and led them into the kitchen, which was pretty much undecorated but had dark wood counters and cabinets and a black fridge. It was spotless, but there was food _everywhere_ , and not in the way Louis was used to.

“Holy shit, man,” Louis exclaimed, turning and looking at Harry, who looked worried. “How much fruit can one man eat?!”

Harry laughed, then, and threw his head back, making his hair tumble down his spine. He looked back down at Louis after a moment, and reached around him to grab an apple. “I eat fruit all day,” he said, taking a bite of the apple. Once he swallowed it, he gestured to the food. “Help yourself. I have plenty. I like to eat really healthy, and especially with me being out in the sun all day and around plants and animals, I have to work really hard to keep myself in shape and in good health.”

Louis looked up and down at Harry’s body involuntary, and even though he’d stared at Harry’s body a million times as subtly as possible (which, according to Lottie, wasn’t very subtle), he was just as amazed as the first time. Harry wasn’t wearing anything particularly tight – not as tight as his leggings he wore sometimes, at least – but he had a look about him that screamed _fit_. He was so obviously painfully in shape, the shorts he was wearing showing off toned calves and his sleeveless top emphasizing his strong shoulders and absolutely ripped biceps. Louis hated him.

When Louis looked back up at Harry’s face, he had to blush, because Harry was smirking at him. “Sorry,” he said, but Harry’s grin just grew.

“Not a problem,” Harry said, his voice clearly sending Louis a message. _Look all you want._

Harry held his eye contact for an excruciatingly long moment that felt overly charged and heated, and if it were a movie, it was the exact moment that one of them would lurch forward and start passionately kissing.

It wasn’t a movie, though, and Harry swallowed and cleared his throat. “Uh, the bathroom is over this way.”

“Alright,” Louis answered softly, and followed him.

The bathroom was also small and nothing extraordinary, but plants were everywhere. In hangers, mostly, and there was a climbing plant in the corner of his shower. “Holy shit,” Louis said again, laughing. “Do you not get bugs in these plants? I’d shit myself if I saw a spider when I was ass naked in the shower.”

Harry snorted. “Don’t worry,” he teased. “A lot of these actually repel pests. Your naked ass is safe in my shower, and it’s welcome any time.”

Louis swallowed, and he knew Harry heard his breathing hitch.

“I – I’m sorry,” Harry said, eyes wide. “I meant – that was inappropriate; I shouldn’t have…”

Louis frowned. Inappropriate? He coughed, though, and shook himself. “No, it’s fine,” he disagreed, and put a hand on Harry’s crossed arms. He wrapped his hand around Harry’s forearm, against his chest, and squeezed gently. “It’s fine,” he repeated. “I’m not, like – I just wasn’t expecting…”

“It was inappropriate of me,” Harry repeated. “I – you trust me to take care of your sisters –”

“Do you talk like that to them?” Louis asked, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face, because he knew Harry didn’t. The girls would tell him.

“Of _course_ not!” Harry nearly shouted, his face screwed up in horror. He stepped back from Louis as he said it, and looked terrified that Louis would think that.

“Hey, stop, come back,” Louis laughed, and stepped forward. “I _know_ , Harry, I know. I know you don’t talk to them that way, and as long as it stays like that and you don’t let them get lost, or, like, eaten by something, you’re not being inappropriate. Right?”

Harry swallowed, looking like he was comforted by Louis’ hand on his arm again, though it was at his side, rather than on his chest. Harry looked down at where they were touching in the space between their bodies, and then back up at Louis’ face. “I – guess?”

“Am I making you uncomfortable by touching you?” Louis asked, worrying about that lingering look.

“No,” Harry said instantly, and Louis smiled. “I – your hand is just really…small.”

Louis rolled his eyes and let go of Harry’s arm to swat at him. “We get it, I’m small and petite,” he laughed.

“I like it,” Harry said, his tone playful, but he bit his lip and watched Louis’ reaction, like he wasn’t sure what he was allowed to say.

Louis smiled. “I tend to like my men bigger than me,” he replied, only half-lying. He’d never really cared either way, but looking at Harry, he’d have to reevaluate his stance.

Harry inhaled through his nose as he chewed his lip. He didn’t seem to have a response, so Louis stepped closer.

“Listen,” he said seriously, and reached to briefly touch Harry’s arm. “If you’re worried about me thinking you’re being inappropriate – for whatever strange reason – don’t. You’re great with the girls, they’re having the time of their lives, and I know they’re safe when they’re out there with you.” He stepped a little closer still, so that he could smell the minty freshness of Harry’s breath. “As for how you act with me…that’s completely up to you. We don’t know each other very well, but if I’m right about my hunch that you’re at least interested in me –”

“You are. I am,” Harry interrupted.

Louis smiled and looked down to grab Harry’s hand in both of his, picking at Harry’s fingers with his own. “Then I _really_ don’t want you to worry about being inappropriate,” he said.

Harry swallowed, then, and after a moment, he nodded. “I’m interested,” he said softly. “Your sisters talk about you like you hung the moon and decided to throw the stars around while you were up there, and seeing you with them – it’s really amazing. And you’re funny and smart, you’re driven, and you’re really handsome.” Louis laughed, and Harry smiled but continued. “I’d like to get to know you. I’m not the kind of person who moves terribly fast, I’m afraid, and I’m likely to spend more time in the woods than on dates, but…I’d really like to get to know you.”

Louis squeezed Harry’s hand. “Let’s start, then,” he said, and moved to step back, out of Harry’s space.

Harry wrapped a hand around one of Louis’ hips, though, and kept him still, just with one hand. Louis felt a thrill go up his spine. “First, can I –“ Louis looked up at him, wondering what his question was, and Harry leaned down and pressed his lips to Louis’.

It was a clean kiss, nothing dirty about it, and no tongue – just a press of lips on lips – but Louis sighed into it. Neither of them moved, and they didn’t touch other than Louis’ hands grasping at one of Harry’s and Harry’s hand on his hip, and after a moment, Harry pulled back, looking into Louis’ eyes like he was searching for a reaction.

He left Louis wanting more, but he smiled at whatever he saw on Louis’ face, and stepped back, dropping his hands from Louis, and cleared his throat. “Would you like to meet my children?” He asked, then, and Louis had to think to understand who he was talking about.

When he nodded, Harry grinned and stepped through another door, walking into his bedroom – which was, of course, also immaculate. His walls were painted a deep green, and his comforter was blue and green, and on the walls were picture frames, all filled with various people and scenery. Harry’s degree was hung up on the wall, next to pictures of him in various places around the world, and the carpet underneath Louis’ shoes was a light tan color, and looked soft.

But what really caught his attention was a fluffy calico cat who ran to the door as soon as it opened and jumped right up onto Harry’s shoulder. Harry obviously slowed his movements, and he reached up to scratch at her ears, but the cat barely even fucking wobbled, its small paws easily finding purchase without even sinking nails into Harry’s skin.

“Hey, handsome man,” Harry murmured to the cat, who preened under the attention. Louis stood, frozen, as the cat turned carefully on Harry’s shoulders so that he could look at Louis. Louis got the feeling he was being judged. “This is Sam,” Harry introduced happily.

Sam crouched on Harry’s shoulders, and his front paws started moving out in the air toward Louis, like he wanted him to come closer – or maybe like he was trying to hit Louis; he didn’t really know. A second later, though, Louis nearly screamed – he did let out a bit of a squeak; he was man enough to admit – because Sam _fucking jumped_ from Harry’s shoulders onto Louis’. Louis froze, and Sam wobbled a bit, but kept his balance.

“Sorry! I didn’t think he would jump so soon!” Harry said, but he looked a little amused.

“A little warning would have been nice!” Louis said, only a little hysterical, and Harry chuckled and came around to pick Sam up off his shoulders.

“He’s not really happy if he’s not exploring,” Harry explained. He held him tight in his arms and Sam flopped back against his chest, exposing his belly like a dog. As he absentmindedly scratched him, Harry continued, “I rescued him when I was out mapping an expanse of this forest when I was in Central America. I thought his leg was broken, and I was so heartbroken for him, so I wrapped him up in my shirt and carried him with me. Once I got back into town, I took him to the vet and they said he just had a really nasty sprain and a few broken bits in the end of his tail they wouldn’t be able to fix, which is why his tail is so short.” He held up Sam’s tail, then, which Louis hadn’t noticed earlier _was_ much shorter than a normal cat’s tail. “But I visited him several times a day while he was in there – it was only a few days – and I put up posters to see if he belonged to anyone nearby, but nobody said anything. I figured he wouldn’t want to stay with a person, since he clearly wasn’t a housecat, so I took him with me when I went back to finish mapping and put him back where I found him, but he kept howling and following me the whole day. It was cute, and he didn’t drink much of my water, and when I got back to the house I was staying in, my host family said he could stay while I was there as long as he was safe. So I made sure he got his shots and brought him right back with me. It was a lot of paperwork to get him back into the States, but,” Harry shrugged, “where I was, there were only kill shelters, and I couldn’t sentence him to death like that.”

Louis poked out his bottom lip and raised his eyebrows. Harry wasn’t even looking at Louis as he told most of the story; he was loving on his cat. Hearing him talk about rescuing a cat from certain death and falling in love with it so much that he brought it back into another country so casually, and not even looking for his reaction, made Louis like Harry so much more. He reached out to pet Sam, hesitating when Sam continued showing his belly. Everything he’d known about cats was that they didn’t like to be touched on their stomachs.

“He doesn’t really _cat_ normally,” Harry said, reading his mind with a laugh. “He’ll let you rub his belly, I promise. Won’t even mind. He loves attention.”

Louis sank his fingers into Sam’s puffy fur and smiled. He was so soft, and Louis could feel him purring under their fingers. “What a sweet cat,” he said.

Just then, they heard a tiny, quiet little _meow_ from across the room, and Harry grinned. “Hold him?” He asked, and Louis nodded, accepting Sam, who didn’t even open his eyes while being transferred to a complete stranger.

Harry moved over to the window, where a small little hammock-looking thing was suspended, the blinds completely raised and letting sunlight flood the room. In the hammock, Louis now noticed, was a tiny black cat, sleek and petite, and Harry picked her up while murmuring to her, and he buried his face between her tiny neck and chest. The cat’s paws came up and touched Harry’s face, like she was hugging him back, and Harry stayed there for a brief moment. It wasn’t until Harry started laughing and brought a hand up to pull the paws away that he realized she had her claws sunk into his curls. “ _Catalie_ ,” he grumbled good-naturedly as he detangled himself from her grasp. He ticked her chest, though, and wiggled his fingers at her while she tried to bat at them, chasing them. She caught one and bit at his fingertip, but he didn’t even flinch.

“This is Catalie Portman,” Harry said, looking up at Louis with love in his eyes. “I adopted her when I moved out of my parents’ house and into my own apartment; she’s my first pet, and my oldest baby.”

“Hi, Catalie,” Louis said, watching the tiny girl’s ears twitch at his high voice. “You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?”

“And doesn’t she know it,” Harry said dryly, making Louis laugh. “She gets pampered like crazy because she’s too old to come on our hikes,” he said, “so while I’m out with Sam, she’s either with my mom or sister, or she’s lounging in the sun or making sure my plants don’t grow too long.” He rolled his eyes, then, and laughed. “She’s a feisty one, and has a lot of fight in her, but the heat would get to her.”

“That’s nice of you to let her be with your mom or sister,” Louis pointed out.

“She likes the company, and they like her,” he reasoned with a shrug. “I don’t like her being all alone all day. It’s not so bad during the year, when it cools down, and as long as I bring a bag for her to ride in when she gets tired, I can take her if I’m just exploring or mapping. It’s nice. She mothers Sam a lot, which is really cute.”

Louis sat down on Harry’s bed with Sam and continued to scratch him, but the moment he sat down, Sam wanted to get up and crawl to higher places. Louis now understood why there were mostly empty shelves all over Harry’s walls, staggered heights and widths. Sam climbed them.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Harry asked, coming to sit next to Louis. Louis felt the heat of Harry’s skin against his. “He balances so well; it’s crazy.”

“I definitely need to see this cat in action,” Louis said, nodding determinedly.

“When are you off, again?” Harry asked, looking over at him. Louis turned his head, too, and their faces were _so close_.

Eyes flickering between Harry’s eyes and his lips, Louis answered, “Thursday.”

Harry swallowed and watched Louis’ mouth, too, and replied, “Will you come with us, then?”

Louis couldn’t take it anymore. “If you kiss me right now,” he whispered.

Harry smirked and set Catalie Portman down next to him and turned his body toward Louis. He cupped Louis’ cheek, his hand large enough to cover Louis’ cheek and temple and for his fingers to be able to slide into his hair a bit. Even sitting down, Louis had to look up at him a bit, and Louis was dying to get underneath him. He knew it wouldn’t happen tonight – Harry had said he didn’t move fast – but he didn’t care, because Harry was about to kiss him.

Harry’s big green eyes closed, then, and Louis’ did, too, as he waited. Harry’s lips were soft and plush, like a pillow, and he closed his lips around Louis’ bottom lip. Louis put a hand on Harry’s thigh, sliding it down closer to his knee to keep him feeling comfortable, and Harry’s lips were a gentle, returning pressure on his. Louis fought his desires to deepen the kiss, but he couldn’t help but swipe his tongue out a bit when Harry sighed happily.

Still, Louis pulled away, ready to apologize for pushing it – he really didn’t want to blow it with Harry – but Harry was smiling at him, his cheeks a little flushed. “I can tell you’re trying,” he said, stroking Louis’ cheek, “and it’s _really_ attractive to me. Thank you.”

Louis felt weird after that comment, like his insides were blushing, or something, but he just smiled and looked down, his face feeling hot. Harry pulled back, then, and stood, pulling Louis up, too.

“Want something to drink? We could watch a movie, or play a game, whatever.”

“I’ll go snoop through your movies and see if I can find anything good,” Louis teased, and Harry snorted.

Following him into the living room, Harry pointed out the shelf with the movies and said, “I’ve got herbal teas, water, fruit juice, and soy and almond milk. What are you feeling?”

Louis, who’d been staring and watching Sam climb around several feet above his head, answered, “If you’ve got anything with vanilla in it, I’ll take it. Otherwise, water works just fine, thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

Louis shook himself and looked through Harry’s movies, pleasantly surprised at the diversity of his collection. “ _The Blind Side_?” He called out as a suggestion.

“It’s got a bit of a white-savior complex thing to it, but it’s still a feel-good movie,” Harry called back from the kitchen. “Have you ever seen it?”

“Not yet,” Louis said. “My best friends don’t watch a lot of TV and the girls aren’t crazy about football movies.”

“Fair enough,” Harry replied, coming back in with his bottle of water. “Your tea’s in the kettle,” he added. “I’m down to watch it if you are.”

Louis nodded and popped it in, and sat down on the couch, up next to a side with his feet curled up underneath him so Harry could either sit close or have some space. Harry chose to sit close, though, on the middle cushion, and crossed his legs, his left knee pressing up against Louis’ thigh, where it was folded.

After a few minutes, the kettle went off, and Louis paused it, but Harry just waved him off. “I’ve seen it before; it’s all good,” he said. “How much sugar?”

“Two little spoons, please,” Louis answered, and continued the movie.

“Still hot,” Harry murmured to him when he came back in, and set the mug on a side table close to Louis.

“Thanks,” Louis said, and risked pushing his feet under Harry’s thigh when he sat back down.

“Good lord, are you freezing?!” Harry exclaimed, jumping away from Louis’ feet. “Is it cold in here?”

Louis laughed. “My hands and feet are always cold,” he explained, “I’m good.”

“Let me –“ Harry grabbed one of Louis’ feet and pulled at it, a bit, until Louis turned so that his back was on the arm of the couch, rather than his side. Louis kept his other foot firmly underneath Harry’s thigh, but Harry started rubbing Louis’ foot gently, not putting too much pressure on it. Harry’s hands were warm, and Louis picked up the mug behind him and started blowing on it as he watched the movie and relaxed as his foot was rubbed by a massively hot man. (He had trouble focusing on the movie.)

Harry alternated feet every once in a while, so he never stopped rubbing Louis’ feet during the entire rest of the movie. Louis argued and told him he could stop, but Harry just stared at him sassily and held out his hand for Louis’ other foot. After a stare down, Louis sighed and hiked it up into his waiting hands.

When the movie was over, Louis’ feet were completely warm and his tea was gone and Harry’s hands were rubbing up and down his shin, like he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

“I love that movie,” Harry said quietly.

“It was really good,” Louis agreed, looking at Harry. “The mom reminds me of my mom,” he added.

Harry smiled. “Mine is awesome, but I don’t know that she’d take in another kid,” he said. “We kept her busy enough, me and Gemma.”

“Your sister?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Gemma wasn’t really into the whole hiking thing once she got older, so Mom would let her stay home, and she always got into all sorts of dumb trouble.” He laughed, rolling his eyes at Louis, who grinned, liking the sound of his sister. “I, on the other hand, got _totally_ into hiking, and exploring, and pretty soon, I was hiking places without her if she couldn’t get off work, signing up for all these competitions, and stuff. I fell in love with it, where she mainly did it for enjoyment and the challenge.”

Louis grinned. “I can only imagine how worried she was about you, running all over the wilderness without her,” he said.

“Nah,” Harry said, but he was smiling like he knew it was true. “She taught me well. I’ve known how to handle myself in the woods just as long as I’ve known how to ride a bike.”

“That’s awesome,” Louis said lowly, and Harry snorted. “No, really,” he protested, “I seriously think it’s cool! I think nature is awesome, and all, but I’ve never really been _in_ it. Even my camping experiences had electric grills and bathrooms, and stuff. I just don’t have those skill sets, so knowing you’ve had them since you were a kid is really cool.”

Harry made a pleased noise, and said, “I’ll take you camping one day, when you’re ready for it. Me and Sam can show you the ropes. Catalie, too, if it’s not too hot.”

Louis smiled. “I’d like that,” he said quietly.

They grinned at each other for a while, until Harry’s phone _ding_ ed. It made Louis realize he hadn’t checked his phone since he’d gotten there. Harry groaned, though, and pulled out his phone. “That’s my alarm to start getting ready for tomorrow,” he told Louis.

“What time is it?” He wondered, even as he checked phone. “Jesus,” he laughed when he saw it was already ten-thirty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stay so late and keep you up,” he apologized. “Lord knows what time you wake up in the morning.”

“Not til five-thirty; it’s all good,” Harry said as he stood up, turning the TV and DVD player off.

Louis stood, too, and grabbed his mug, taking it to the kitchen. They picked up the apartment, which only took a moment, as it was already so clean, and Harry followed Louis to the doorway. He lingered there, though, not wanting to leave.

“How do _you_ do this?” Harry asked, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the wall, watching Louis’ reaction.

“Do what?” Louis asked, brows a bit furrowed.

“This,” Harry said, gesturing between the two of them. “Like. Dating? Talking? Relationships? This,” he repeated with a shrug.

Louis grinned. “I’d like to keep _talking_ to you,” he said, teasing Harry’s terms, “about possibly _dating_ and getting into a _relationship_.” Harry snorted at him and looked around lazily, pretending like he was annoyed. “Seriously, though,” Louis said after a moment, and Harry’s attention was back on him instantly. “I’d like to do more of this, if you do, too. Like, spend more time together. Talk more. Obviously, we won’t be able to text non-stop, what with work and me taking care of the girls, but…” Louis sighed. “I kinda like you, Harry, and I’d like to keep seeing you. As much or as little as you want.”

Harry bit his lip in an attempt to hide a grin, but it was no use. Louis smiled in response. “I like you, too,” Harry said plainly. “And I will text you tomorrow, in the morning, if that’s not too lame,” Louis shook his head no, “and I will text you when I get home, so that you can decide if you’d like to come over, or maybe meet up, _if_ you don’t already have plans, of course. And I will also teach you how to hike without killing yourself – or anything else – on Thursday. And if you can still stomach the thought of being near me, I’d like to take you out some time soon. Maybe this weekend, or next.”

Louis grinned. “I assume you won’t let me put out on the first date,” he joked, laughing when Harry snorted. “I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t,” he admitted with a grin as Harry shook his head in amusement.

“As much as it pains me to say,” Harry answered with a grin, “no, I wouldn’t.”

Louis was still laughing, but he gave Harry a look. “Please,” he chuckled, “it doesn’t pain you to say anything, Mr. Take-Things-Slow.” He grinned to show Harry he didn’t mind. And he actually really didn’t, either.

Harry just flashed him a heated look, though, that had Louis squirming a little where he stood.

Louis licked his lips and Harry stepped closer, in his space but not quite pressing him against the door. “I take things slow,” he said lowly, his voice a quiet rumble that Louis would swear he could feel the vibrations of, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t _want_.”

Louis’ breath hitched, then, and he couldn’t help but arch his back a bit against the door, pushing his chest closer to Harry. Harry touched Louis’ hip, knowing what he wanted, clearly, and rubbed his thumb across Louis’ covered hip bone soothingly. “I like to grow with someone before I let them into my bed,” he said quietly.

Louis nodded, smiling a sweet, little smile at him. “I completely understand,” he said truthfully. “I joke around about sex a lot, and make things dirty to be silly, but I respect that, and I’m not going to push it. At least, I’ll do my best.”

Harry’s eyes darkened, then, as he stared down at Louis, and Louis felt Harry’s thumb press just a bit harder against his skin. In a moment, though, it was gone, and Harry’s face was light and thankful, and it had Louis wondering if he was having some sort of stroke brought on by sex-starvation. “Thank you,” he said, and Louis just nodded. Harry squeezed Louis’ hip and let go, stepping back just enough that they could breathe their own air. “Are you going to tell the girls anything?”

Louis hummed. “If it comes up, I’ll say that we hung out,” he said truthfully. “The older girls have already picked up on the fact that I’m interested, so.” He shrugged. “We’re pretty open about that stuff with one another.”

“How long have you been interested?” Harry asked, curious, but also looking a little smug.

Louis smirked. “Wouldn’t _you_ like to know?” He teased, and Harry scrunched his face up at him. “My _point_ ,” he said pointedly, “is that it’s up to you to decide what you want them to know. If you’d rather them not know, then I won’t say anything. They wouldn’t pester you about it too much, but they also would probably mention it to anyone who would stand still long enough to hear them, so.”

Harry chuckled, clearly already aware of that, and said, “If they ask anything, I won’t lie to them, but I don’t think I’ll bring it up.”

“Sounds good,” Louis said easily. “Lottie’s really the only one who would notice, most likely. Maybe Felicite, maybe, but I doubt it. She does her own thing most of the time, anyway.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “And the Phoebe and Daisy are both too interested in Jade and Leigh Anne to notice anything that might be going on between us.” He laughed, and Louis joined in, and realized that he’d laughed more tonight than he had in a while. It made him smile and bite his lip.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, then?” Louis asked, and Harry nodded.

“You’ll hear from me in the morning, bright and early,” he said. “Or, text me when you get home, let me know you got in alright. But _then_ , yeah, you’ll hear from me in the morning.”

Louis agreed, and Harry opened the door for him, and instantly frowned and grabbed his arm. “Wait, shit, you’re not walking all the way home, are you?” He asked, sounding alarmed.

“No,” Louis laughed, “My car’s parked at Teasedale’s.” When Harry frowned, like he didn’t like that any better, Louis swatted at him gently, fondness softening his assault. “It’s right down the road; I can walk for a few minutes without dying.”

“Let me walk you to your car, at least,” Harry said, reaching for a pair of shoes, but Louis stopped him.

“I’ve got it, babe,” he said. “It’s all good.” At Harry’s frown, nearly a pout, Louis smiled. “I’ll even text you when I get to the car; how’s that sound?”

Harry sighed, but he gave in. “As _soon_ as you do,” he prompted, and Louis nodded with a mock-serious look on his face, even saluting him. “Sir, yes, Sir,” he said, and Harry _pshhh_ ed and pushed at his face with his palm spread wide, pushing him away.

They both laughed, and Harry pulled Louis in gently and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Good night, Louis,” he said, looking into Louis’ eyes.

“Good night, Harry.”

True to his word, Louis texted Harry both when he got to his car and when he got home, and they texted just a few times back and forth before Harry called it a night.

Also true to his word, Louis had a good morning text waiting for him when he woke up. Busy with getting the girls ready, though, he didn’t get to text back until he was already in the car, waiting for Lottie to finish peeing and get in the damn car so they could leave.

_Good morning! I refuse to follow the ‘wait two days’ rule because I’m going to see you in a few hours. Hope you slept well. I had a lot of fun last night._

The message had been sent at five thirty-four, meaning Harry had basically texted him the minute he woke up. It made Louis smile to think that, and he replied, _The two day rule is stupid, anyway. Sorry, mornings are crazy busy in this household. I had a lot of fun too! See you soon_.

If the girls noticed he was a bit more chipper this morning, they didn’t comment, and when they pulled into Wekisa Park for drop-off, they all gave Louis hugs and ran off to their buddies, leaving Louis alone by the car. Harry had already stood when he saw Louis’ car come up, and he started walking toward Louis. He stopped to speak with each of them for a brief moment, but seemed to know that Louis wouldn’t have much time before he had to leave for work, because he managed to get over to Louis really quickly.

“Morning,” he said with a grin.

Louis managed a tired smile before a yawn worked its way from his mouth, making Harry laugh. “Morning!” Louis answered, scrunching his nose and blinking his eyes tightly.

“I take it you _didn’t_ sleep well last night?” Harry asked, looking sympathetic.

“I slept fine; I’m just a baby about waking up,” Louis answered. “Takes me a minute.”

“Noted,” Harry laughed. At Louis’ look, he seemed to realize how that sounded, and rushed to say, “For tomorrow, I meant! I’ll bring you a tea so you can be alert during the hike, is what I meant…”

Louis grinned and nodded. “A tea would be _greatly_ appreciated,” he said thankfully, and Harry nodded, like he’d decided to do it. Louis glanced at his watch and sighed. “I actually have to go,” he said reluctantly.

“Already?” Harry said, folding his lips into a sideways frown that made his dimples appear.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Louis answered. “It’s stock day, and since I have tomorrow off, my boss is gonna want me to work my ass off today.”

“Gross,” Harry said sympathetically. “Well, you have fun with that,” he said sarcastically, making Louis push his chest playfully, “and we’ll have fun with nature.”

“Where’s Sam?” Louis asked, suddenly remembering that he should be expecting to see the cat somewhere around.

“Oh, he’s underneath the table, there,” Harry said, turning and pointing to the table he usually sat at. Louis couldn’t see underneath it, but he took Harry’s word for it. “He’s a bit slow to wake up, too.”

Louis rolled his eyes at Harry’s connection, but smirked anyway. “Guess great minds think alike,” he sang out. “I really have to go now, though,” he added, stepping back, away from Harry, sure he wouldn’t want to kiss him in front of everyone.

Harry grabbed Louis’ hand, though, and kissed the back of it, his lips lingering on Louis’ skin longer than necessary. Not that Louis was complaining. “Have a good day at work,” Harry said, looking intently into Louis’ eyes.

Flushed a bit, Louis nodded. “See you at pick-up,” he said, opening the door to his car.

“I’ll send pictures if Sam does anything cool,” Harry promised.

Louis shut the door, but Harry could still see him laughing as he started the car and drove away.

\---

Louis hadn’t checked his phone in three hours when his alarm went off for him to clock out so he could go pick up the girls. He swore, finished up his task quickly, and called out to his coworkers that he was leaving. As he jogged to his car, he glanced at his phone, noting that Harry had sent him a few messages. Most of them were pictures of Sam – climbing trees, walking across a small creek, riding on Leigh Anne’s shoulders with his front paws resting on her scarf-covered head – and one was a picture of himself making a goofy face. Louis saved that one, because Harry was sweaty, and his hair was trying to escape the bun he had it in, little curls framing his hairline and poofing out. Clearly, his hair didn’t behave in humidity.

When he got there for pick-up, several people had already left to go home, and Louis realized he was nearly fifteen minutes late.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry,” he apologized to the girls. They didn’t mind, luckily – the twins were playing with a few pups, Felicite was talking with Steve and helping him round up said pups, and Lottie was on the bench of the table, her sunglasses on and basking in the sunshine.

“It’s all good,” Lottie said, sitting up with a grin, wiping sweat off her face. “It’s stock day,” she added with a shrug.

Louis was rarely late to pick up the girls, but when he was, it was always a Wednesday. “Thanks,” he said, still feeling bad. “Ice cream?” He offered, and Lottie’s eyes lit up. “Go round up the girls for me,” he told her, jerking his head towards their sisters. He’d felt Harry’s eyes on him the moment his car rounded the corner, but he was waiting patiently for his attention. Louis loved that so much: knowing that his sisters would always be his priority and being totally understanding of that was a trait Louis rarely saw in people, and he loved it.

He sat down next to Harry, his butt on the top of the table and his feet on the bench, like Harry, and let Harry wrap his arm around him and pull him close. Louis leaned on Harry’s shoulder and sighed, liking how Harry seemed to understand that he just needed a bit of rest.

“Today _sucked_ ,” he said, and Harry made an unhappy sound.

“I’m sorry,” he said, scratching gently at Louis’ back. “Anything I can do?”

Louis bit his lip, considering. “What more do you have to do before you leave?” He asked, looking around at the several dogs still not put up.

“Nothing,” Harry said. “I wait around until everyone’s gone to make sure they’re all taken care of; Steve takes the dogs back himself, and me and Sam head home.”

Louis nodded slowly. “I won’t be able to come over tonight, because I forgot I told Liam I’d go over to his for game night,” he said, and Harry’s face dropped a tiny bit, but he nodded in understanding, “so would you like to come for ice cream with us? If you’re free, we’re leaving now.”

Harry’s face cheered up a bit, and he nodded. “Yeah, I’d love to,” he said. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Louis said, running his fingers over Harry’s covered knee. “Come hang out with us for a little.”

“Okay,” Harry said. He stood and pulled Louis up, walking over to their cars. “I’ll follow you,” he said, before getting into his car. Louis now realized that Sam was resting on the dashboard, and when Harry started the car, he moved him down to the passenger seat. Louis saw Harry talking to Sam – probably apologizing for the inconvenience, if Harry had to guess.

The girls helped Steve wrangle up the rest of the dogs in no time and got in the car, excited because Lottie had spilled the beans about ice cream. Their excitement doubled when Louis told them Harry was going to join them.

They pulled up to Braum’s and got out of the car, Lottie taking the girls to one of the tables with an umbrella over top of it, and Louis waited for Harry to go inside. Harry let Sam come out, on a leash, and walked him over to the girls, asking Daisy and Phoebe to please hold Sam’s leash very carefully and not let go and not pull on it. They took the responsibility seriously, both holding the leash with two hands and refusing to do anything else.

Once they got inside, Harry brushed their arms together a few times as they walked up to the line, chatting and waiting to be helped. Every time Louis felt Harry touch him, he felt the need to blush, and he stumbled over his and the girls’ memorized order enough that the scooper looked at him with _pity_. He paid, though, and Harry ordered his, and helped him carry out the ice creams and distribute them.

Harry took the leash and wrapped it around his ankle, so he could focus on his ice cream which was rapidly melting in the heat, and thanked the girls for helping so much. They beamed and both offered a taste of their ice cream.

Harry sat next to Louis on the small bench seat, their legs touching, and their sides were touching practically everywhere.

“How come Harry’s allowed to come to our Sacred Ice Cream place?” Lottie asked, fluttering her lashes like she didn’t know exactly what she was doing.

Harry looked shocked, and looked around at Louis. “Sacred?” He asked, and Louis didn’t even have time to glare at Lottie before the girl was laughing.

“He’s too sweet, I can’t – it’s not a special place, Harry; you’re not intruding on a tradition, or anything,” she confessed, still giggling. The girls all giggled at Harry’s reaction as he deflated from the ball of nerves he’d just expanded into.

Louis rolled his eyes at his sisters’ antics, and knocked his knee against Harry’s as he laughed a little, himself. “Thought you were somethin’ special, huh, Styles?” He teased, and Harry snorted.

“No, just thought you were so obsessed with me that you’d break a tradition with your own sisters to hang out with me more,” he fired back, and the twins said ‘ _Oooooooooh_ ’, making them all laugh.

Louis loved that having Harry around made him feel giggly and full of butterflies, but didn’t turn him into an idiot or make it hard to focus on his sisters. In fact, Harry definitely gave the girls just as much attention as he did Louis, and it struck him that Harry wasn’t just someone he paid – well, his mom paid, technically – to take care of them, but that he was actually _friends_ with them all, even the twins. He _knew_ them, and understood them, and knew how to tease each of them and what things to praise them on that would matter the most to them individually. He didn’t talk down to them because they were young – he spoke about academic things, things he’d researched in college, laws regarding forestry and wildlife, and while he would explain it in younger levels for them, he didn’t simplify them; he made them rise up to meet him when he knew they could do it. He asked _them_ questions, and actually listened to their answers and valued their input, and pointed out when they said something in a way he hadn’t thought about before. He made them feel valued and respected, and Louis could see exactly why they all loved him.

Louis wrapped his foot around Harry’s ankle towards the end of the snack, and Harry’s gaze on Phoebe, who was working her way through answering a question he’d asked about a plant they’d encountered that morning, never faltered. He did, however, lean into Louis a bit more, and his lips lifted up just a tad at the corners – just enough for Louis to notice, because he was already staring at him.

“Are you two dating?” Felicite blurted out, interrupting Phoebe’s answer. The table went silent, and Harry didn’t move.

“Don’t interrupt; Phoebe was talking,” Louis said calmly, though his heart was racing. He stroked Harry’s shin a few times with his foot, reassuring him that he’d take care of it.

When Phoebe’s answer was finished, and Harry had praised it and pointed out the things he was impressed that she’d remembered, Louis addressed the question.

“No, girls, Harry and I are not dating,” he said.

“Are you going to?” Phoebe asked.

“Are you ever going to get married?” Louis asked.

Phoebe frowned. “Maybe, one day,” she said, and Louis nodded.

“Well, that’s my answer, too, then. Maybe we’ll date, one day. But for now, we’re still learning about each other. You guys already know Harry well; I don’t. So, we’re going to hang out and get to know each other. You never know,” he added, “maybe we’ll hang out more and he’ll realize that I’m not clean enough for him to want to be my friend, or maybe I’ll decide he’s secretly a loser who likes to sniff dirty socks.”

The girls all laughed and made faces, the twins more vocal in their disgust, but it was accepted at Louis’ word.

Harry nodded next to Louis, a smile on his face, but Louis thought it looked a little forced.

At the end of the snack time, the girls were cleaning up the table and Louis walked Harry back to his car, Sam in tow.

“Everything okay?” He asked Harry, who had been just a little bit quieter, though still interactive and sweet, after the dating conversation.

“No, yeah, everything’s okay,” Harry said. Louis was ready to accept it, but apparently, Harry couldn’t stand not telling the truth. “Actually – and this might sound kind of dumb,” he warned, but Louis just waited, leaning up against Harry’s car. “You told them maybe,” Harry said, and looked like he was going to leave it there.

Louis frowned, not understanding the problem. “Right,” he said slowly, “because we’re still getting to know each other, and you wanted to hang out more and move slow.”

Harry looked a little frustrated, and said, “Well, yeah, but – I…I want to move slow because that’s just who I am,” he said. Louis opened his mouth to tell him that he was _fine_ with that, but Harry continued, “But I have every intention of dating you.”

Louis’ mouth stayed open. While his body flooded with happiness, because it was exactly what he didn’t know he wanted to hear, he really wasn’t expecting it.

“And now I’ve freaked you out,” Harry said, and the dejection in his voice spurred Louis into action.

“Hey, no, stop that,” Louis said, holding Harry’s wrist. He glanced over to make sure the girls were still alive, and they were waiting on Daisy to finish up her cone, all chatting and being silly. He looked back at Harry, who looked patient and hopeful, and said, “You didn’t freak me out. I’m glad; I just didn’t know you’d already decided. When you said you wanted to move slow and get to know me, it sounded like you wanted to know more about me before you made up your mind. Which is totally normal. I just thought that’s what we were doing.”

Harry shook his head slowly. “I’ve already made up my mind,” he said. “I’m too old to not know what I want.”

Louis laughed a little at Harry’s dramatics, but when Harry didn’t laugh with him, he frowned. “How old _are_ you?”

“Twenty-six,” Harry replied.

“Oh, wow,” Louis said. He had not expected a four-year age gap. “I’m twenty-two,” he volunteered. Harry nodded, like he was satisfied with the answer, though, and if it didn’t bother Harry, it certainly didn’t bother Louis. Harry had his life together already, clearly. “Does it bother you that I’m so young?” He asked just to be sure.

Harry looked amused. “No, not at all,” he said. “Like I said, I’m too old not to know what I want. A few years doesn’t make a difference, because you know pretty well what you want, too.” Louis nodded, but didn’t have anything to say to that, so Harry continued. “I want to move slow because that’s who I am, and because sex is serious to me. But I already know that I want to date you.” He swallowed. “And it’s okay if you don’t know, yet, because like you said, we haven’t spent a lot of time together. I just didn’t realize you didn’t know.”

Louis bit his lip and looked down at his feet for a moment. “I definitely like you a lot,” he decided, and Harry smiled a little and nodded, waiting patiently for the rest. “And, assuming you’re not going to turn into some psycho freak who secretly voted for Trump, or something,” Louis took comfort in Harry’s disgusted expression, “I can’t see any reason why I _wouldn’t_ want to be with you. I obviously have a stupid, embarrassingly huge crush on you, and I _love_ the way you treat my sisters and how you’ve earned their respect and admiration – and after our dad left us, they don’t give that out very easily, especially the twins, even though it might seem like they do. I like spending time with you, and I like what I know and hate that I don’t know so much. I can’t honestly say I’m _ready_ to date you, but I can honestly say I’m interested in dating you, and that I want to explore that possibility.”

Harry’s expression was peaceful, now, and it made Louis feel good to know he’d brought him to that. Harry took a look over Louis’ shoulder, probably to check on the girls, and his lack of alarm kept Louis from looking, himself. Which meant that Louis watched Harry lean in and kiss him, right on the lips, in front of everyone who could be looking. Surprised but pleased, Louis closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment.

When Harry pulled away, though, Louis looked at him with concern. “Hey,” he said gently. “Me not knowing doesn’t have anything to do with you wanting to go slow.” At Harry’s confused look, he elaborated. “You don’t have to make yourself uncomfortable to convince me, or anything. I know you keep, like, physical affection close to the chest, and that’s okay.”

Recognition dawned on Harry’s face, then, and he smiled and shook his head. “I’m not trying to convince you, Lou,” he assured Louis. “I just really like when you’re open and respectful of how I am. I have a thing for open and honest communication, respect, all that. It’s kind of a, like. Extreme interest of mine, I guess.”

Louis’ eyebrows raised, and the dirtier part of his mind told him he’d definitely need to explore that at a later time, but Harry kissed his forehead and said, "Pretty sure the girls are about to explode if you don’t unlock the car door right this second.” Louis whirled around, digging the keys from his pocket as Harry laughed and added, “They’ve been trying to give us privacy for a minute, but I’m pretty sure even Lottie’s getting sick of waiting.”

Louis snorted and turned back around, not wanting to leave him – a feeling he was starting to wonder if he was going to experience for the rest of his damn life. He sighed, and Harry seemed to understand. His joking expression faded into a more peaceful one, and he swept a finger across Louis’ cheek, for no apparent reason Louis could discern, and said, “Have fun with your friends tonight.”

“I usually do,” Louis said, “if I don’t get too drunk and forget what I did.” Harry snorted. “Which I _won’t_ be doing tonight, because I have a hike at the ass crack of dawn with my sisters and my –” Louis faltered, realizing that their conversation didn’t really leave him with a label to stick to Harry – “rugged woodsman.”

Harry threw his head back and cackled, clapping his hands like an idiot, and it made Louis feel like he’d won the lottery. “’Rugged woodsman’,” Harry echoed, his voice high. “Never been called _that_ before,” he said, still laughing, “but I’ll take it.” He was still laughing every once in a while, little breaths of laughter that seemed to punch out of his chest randomly, and that was Louis’ favorite kind of laughter. “Good plan, though – don’t get too drunk. It’ll suck.”

Louis shrugged. “If I stay sober, I’ll probably win all the games, at any rate,” he said mischievously, and Harry tapped his nose and pointed on him.

“Atta boy,” he laughed. “Text me later? I’ll probably go for a run and force Niall to join me.”

“You run after spending your entire day hiking?” Louis asked, feeling like he’d just been sucker-punched. What did this guy look like underneath all those clothes?!

Harry nodded. “Well, yeah,” he said, “but you have to put it in perspective. I _work_ all day in the woods, hiking. It’s a major part of my job, so being in the forest and hiking like I’ve been doing this summer isn’t really _sport_ for me; I’ve grown used to it. So I have to challenge my body, or I’ll start losing my fitness.”

“You’re inhuman,” Louis said. It wasn’t like he never worked out; he liked to run, and he was a fan of sports, but he felt like Harry could definitely run circles around him without breaking a sweat.

“I just have good endurance,” Harry said. “Go take your sisters home before the twins learn how to hotwire a car,” he added with a laugh, pushing Louis toward his car. “Talk to you later,” he called over his shoulder, and then started snapping his fingers to convince Sam to come back over to him from where he was laying in the bushes, soaking up the sun.

“Took you long enough,” Lottie grouched when he finally got in the car.

“He certainly kisses you a lot for someone you’re not dating yet,” Felicite noted quietly, and the twins squealed and Lottie laughed.

“Quiet, you turds,” he laughed at them. “I think we’re definitely going to date,” he divulged, making the girls ecstatic, “just not yet.”

\---

_Morning! I’m bringing you a HUGE cup of tea. How many sugars? It’s like four mugs in one. Hope you slept well_

When Louis finally woke up, he realized he was running late, and used just about every swear word he knew. He ran into the kitchen to find Lottie already making lunches, and kissed her temple gratefully.

“I’m only here because I knew you’d oversleep after staying up all night drinking,” she said sourly. “Go get dressed. You’ll want to dress cool but cover up as much as possible; there’s thorns and bugs, and stuff.”

“I didn’t drink; I just stayed out late,” Louis defended himself as he ran back to his room. He could hear Felicite running the shower, and Daisy and Phoebe were in their room, already dressed and playing with their dolls. “Don’t you two make a mess, and go brush your hair and teeth before you start playing; let’s go!” They grumbled, but set down their dolls and made their way into the bathroom.

Louis stared at his closet, in a loss. He didn’t really have workout pants that weren’t sweats, and he didn’t want to roast. He grabbed an Under Armor long-sleeved shirt, knowing it would keep him cool and wick the sweat from his body, but he had no idea what pants to wear.

Finally he admitted defeat and went back to Lottie. Before he could open his mouth, she said, “If you want a pair of leggings you’re going to wear the ones with the cutout mesh designs, because I’m wearing my patterned ones today and all my others are dirty.”

Louis whined. “Lottie, they have _cutouts_ ,” he protested. “I’m pretty sure Leigh Anne has the same pair!”

“She does,” Lottie said, and didn’t look up from making up their lunches. Not even when Louis stared at her with his pleading face. She didn’t even look up in the awkward silence of his desperation.

“ _Fuck_ , fine, thank you,” he said, running into her room and trying not to stomp. He would definitely have to invest in some guy’s leggings if he was to be doing this more often.

He pulled on Lottie’s leggings, thankful that his extra curves made up for her extra height, making them fit pretty well. His dick would probably feel suffocated by the end of the day, but he’d find a way to make it work. His shirt was also long enough to cover the slight bulge he had even though he’d tucked a bit, so it didn’t look obscene.

He grabbed his most comfortable pair of sneakers and threw a headband around his neck, grabbed his sunglasses, and ran wash his face and brush his teeth.

By the time he was ready, his sisters were all by the door, Lottie with Louis’ bag at her feet, and he kissed her in thanks as he rushed them out the door, glad Lottie had also given the girls a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Not the best, but better than being hungry. Louis himself scarfed down a banana for breakfast, hoping it would be enough to tide him over until they had a snack, and also hoping Lottie had given him something good in his bag.

When he pulled up, everyone else was there, and the women had already started stretching. The girls ran to join them, and Harry greeted Louis with – as promised – a giant cup of tea.

“I didn’t - _wow_. You look…really nice in those.” Louis, in his tired state, took a moment to realize he was being ogled, but once he did, he couldn’t help but smirk. Lottie knew _exactly_ what she was doing this morning.

Louis gave Harry a moment before he said, “Thank you. They’re Lottie’s; I didn’t have any.”

Harry finally looked up from Louis’ legs and made eye contact, his eyes wide and cheeks a bit flushed. “Ah. I see. Well, you look really nice. I, uhm…” He looked around, looking lost, before he caught sight of the cup in his hands and brandished it. “Oh, right! I didn’t know how many sugars, so I just put five and hoped it would be enough. I didn’t want it to be _too_ sweet,” Harry said, sounding apologetic.

“No, thank you so much,” Louis said, gulping it down, the tea having cooled enough so that it only mildly scalded his throat. “Seriously, thank you. I could kiss you for this.”

“Maybe later, when you’re more awake,” Harry said with a wink, and Louis gave a tiny laugh.

“We’re about to start stretching together, come on,” Harry urged, then, and Louis followed him over to the group.

“You seriously stretch?” Louis asked quietly as they made their way over.

Harry laughed. “Hiking may seem like it’s just walking, but there’s a lot of change in elevation and terrain,” he said, “and your muscles need to be prepared. It’s not like taking a dog for a long walk down the road.”

“Fair enough.”

The stretch was nice, Louis decided, his muscles getting some movement they didn’t usually, and Harry led them quietly, aware that not everyone was a bubbly morning person like Perrie. Louis liked Perrie just fine, but in the morning, she could go fuck off. During the stretch, Louis felt eyes on him, and without acknowledging, he allowed himself to really bend, really stretch and warm up his muscles. Finally, he caught sight of Harry peeking at him, and when Harry noticed Louis staring right back at him, he messed up the count.

“Alright, I believe it’s Jesy’s turn to pick a morning trail, isn’t it?” Harry asked, and gave the woman the map.

After a few moments, in which Steve went and let the dogs all out of the van, which resulted in Sam hopping up on Harry’s shoulders as he decided which dogs were friends and which weren’t, Jesy picked a loop trail and Harry nodded. “Lead the way, then, ma’am,” he said, goofily.

Harry took up the back of the group, which Louis didn’t think would happen. He assumed that Harry would lead the group. When he said as much, quietly to Harry, the man laughed a bit.

“In the morning, we start off with a selection of easy, clearly marked trails,” he explained, “just to get everyone’s muscles moving without risking them being too tired to notice something we should. These trails are only a mile or two long, so it won’t take us more than an hour and a half to complete them, and by then, we stop for a snack, make sure everyone gets to pee, and we start on the harder trails. I walk up towards the front on those ones. The last hike of the day, I lead, because we’re mapping the park.”

“You’ve talked about that before,” Louis said. “Mapping. What do you mean?”

“I take a plain map, like this,” he said, pulling out a map that had very few marked trails on it, mostly all down on one corner of it,” and I explore the area, and I map down what’s where. If you look a little closer on this one, you can see where I’ve added to the map. Trails, habitats, ‘do not enter’ areas, water, all that. I map it out, and once I’m done exploring the area, I make a copy of it and give it to the park organization, so that they can compare it to their maps and update it if they need it.”

“Do you do this for free?” Louis asked curiously. It sounded like people would actually pay decent money for something like that.

“Sometimes,” Harry answered. “In the summer, when I do this,” he gestured around himself at the animals and people in front of them, “because it’s not just me who’s doing the exploring. Everyone helps. Everyone is learning how to map, and everyone contributes to it. So, no, all we get from it at the end of the summer is one hell of a sense of pride for what we’ve done.”

“That’s – pretty awesome, actually,” Louis said. “I can’t believe you do this for funsies.”

Harry smiled, and continued walking, giving Louis the quiet he enjoyed and so rarely got in the mornings. He saw Sam up ahead, darting in front of people and around trees, his leash trailing behind him over the earth.

“Hey, Harry,” Louis asked, “is it really a good idea to have Sam on a leash? I mean, I don’t want him to get lost, either, but – what if his leash gets caught on something?”

Harry smiled and answered, “He’s actually only on a leash because he doesn’t wander off as far when he’s on it, for some reason. I’m not worried about him getting lost. But the leash has a snap mechanism, so if he ever gets caught – or if someone tries to take him by pulling on the leash, for that matter – he can pull out of it and it will snap off, and he’ll be free. He has the same mechanism on his collar, so if he ever gets caught on a branch, or something, he just has to move around a bit, like how animals do when they panic, and it’ll snap off and he can come find me.”

Louis felt dumb. Of course Harry had already thought about this. He wouldn’t jeopardize Sam’s health or safety. “Oh, right,” he said. “Sorry.”

Harry laughed lightly. “It’s okay, love; you’re allowed to be curious.”

He didn’t even seem to realize that he’d called Louis ‘love’, but Louis nearly tripped over his own feet, making Harry’s hands shoot out faster than he thought was possible to steady him.

“Good?” Harry checked when Louis regained balance and started walking.

“Yeah, good,” he answered with a laugh.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Harry touched Louis’ arm to grab his attention and moved close to him so he could speak quietly. “I don’t mean to offend or objectify you, so please let me know if it bothers you, but I would very much like to buy you your own pair of leggings a lot like these because you look _incredible_ in them.” The breath rushed out of his mouth when he finished the sentence, like he’d been holding the comment back for quite a while, and Louis couldn’t help but laugh at him, and continue walking.

Harry chased after him, trying to get his attention and double-check that Louis didn’t mind, but Louis couldn’t even respond, too busy laughing and swaying his hips as much as possible without looking too ridiculous.

\---

When they finished the first hike, Harry called for a break, which meant the women took the girls off into one side of the trail where it was a bit more cleared of grass and forest-y debris to help each other squat and pee, and the guys all peed on the other side. They walked a bit further on, then, away from everyone’s pee, and reached a spot where rocks and boulders piled up onto one another. Louis could hear water nearby, and apparently so could all the animals, because they all ran off that way, Steve and John following them to make sure they were all okay. The rest of them sat on the boulders and dug into their bags for snacks, Harry making sure everyone had something to eat before he started eating his.

Louis had his bag of assorted honey-roasted nuts, and dug into them, glad to have something solid in his stomach. He finished off his tea and put the cup in his bag, not wanting to litter, and Harry tossed him a water bottle.

“I’m not going to suck down all your water,” Louis protested, but Harry waved him off.

“I’ve got, like, ten bottles of water in my bag, Louis; it’s fine. And if I do need more, there’s more in my car.” It was hard to reason with that argument, so Louis thanked him with a secretly blown kiss, which Harry accepted with a goofy wink.

More awake as a collective group, the conversation started flowing more, the adults cracking on each other and the girls learning how to keep up, which was always funnier than the (actually good) jokes the adults made.

As they started the second, more complicated trail, Louis listened as Harry pointed out specific types of trees and talked about how they grew, how they reproduced and which types were endangered and which types did what for the environment. He also talked about animals who lived nearby, and how they interacted and effected the growth and population of plant life, how well the plant demographic sustained the animal demographic and vice versa. Louis was in awe. Harry knew _everything_ , it seemed, and he was genuinely so interested in what he was saying. It was rare that he didn’t have an answer to any of the questions the girls asked, but when he did, he stopped and wrote the question down, who asked it, and promised to look it up at home and let them know the next day.

When the questions stopped coming in, Harry was able to stop talking, and enjoy the sunlight, and Louis was able to walk right next to him without struggling to keep up. Behind them, someone – probably Steve, Harry told Louis – put on some dance music, and ahead of them, Jade and Leigh Anne were walking with the twins, talking to them about Leigh Anne’s next ballet recital she had.

“How was boys’ night?” Harry asked at one point.

“It was fun,” Louis answered. “Got my ass kicked at 2k, because basketball is stupid, anyway,” he grinned to himself when Harry laughed, even though it was a small laugh, “but I waxed their asses at poker, so it’s okay, and we played some other dumb video games and ate too much, and the boys drank too much - _but_ I heard some pretty interesting drunken confessions from both of them last night, so I’m feeling pretty damn powerful, if I do say so, myself.”

Harry laughed again, and Louis took a split second to appreciate that someone like Harry, who found joy in pretty much every aspect of life, who had traveled so much and knew so much and was a master at horrendous puns could find the dumb things Louis said funny. Harry was just so good at making Louis feel good about himself – was good at doing that for everyone – and Louis loved that skill.

“How was your night?” Louis asked. “Sorry I didn’t text you. Zayn made a rule that guy time is only truly guy time if phones are left at the door.” Louis rolled his eyes, but smiled. His friends were ridiculous. At the same time, though, Louis could understand the point. He’d gotten some awesome conversations out of his friends, and was able to update them in the Harry situation completely and gain their full attention and support (and teasing, of course).

“It was good,” Harry said, checking his map for a brief moment and looking around at the trees before nodding to himself. “I managed to enslave Niall and convinced him to go on a run with me. Well, it was more like I ran and lapped him several times while he jogged because he got tired after a quarter mile, but it was still fun.” Harry laughed at himself and his friend. Louis sympathized with Niall. “After that, we went to the pool, which was packed, but adult swim is a beautiful thing, so Niall worked on his burn and then cooled himself off when adult swim happened. And then, I just went home and read, and Niall came over after, like, fifteen minutes of being home, complained about his sunburn, so I gave him aloe versa and slathered his poor skin with it and went back to reading while he moaned and groaned about his poor life choices and watched cooking shows on my TV.”

Louis grinned. “I feel like I’d get along with Niall,” he laughed. “Makes poor life decisions and blames his friends for allowing him to do it? We could be twins.”

Harry guffawed, a dorky sound coming from his mouth that Louis loved. “Niall gets along with everyone,” Harry said, shaking his head in amazement, as if he didn’t do the same fucking thing on a daily basis.

“Harry, you made friends with the ice cream scooper yesterday,” Louis said, but Harry only shrugged.

“It’s not the same, trust me,” he said, and Louis had no choice but to do just that.

“What is your normal job?” he asked, switching the topic. They were trying to get to know one another; might as well start now.

If Harry was surprised by the change, he didn’t show it. “I have two jobs, actually,” he said, and Louis raised an eyebrow. “So, my day job, what I leave the house in the morning for, is habitat conservation research. Basically, I do this,” he gestured around himself, “but with a purpose. Instead of doing the mapping and walking for fun, I do it with the goal of finding evidence that a species in a particular area may be at risk or endangered that we don’t know about and how to fix it, and finding other habitats for possible relocation of animals who need specific environments.”

“Wait, so – you’re looking for animals who _might_ be endangered?” Louis asked. “How do you find that?”

“Through study,” Harry responded. “Like, I’m not just walking around all day; I’m studying. Tracks, sounds, behaviors, all of it. And I’m also reading up on the area all the time, so I know what kind of animals are up against what, the weather, the resources an animal may have and might be short on. For example, if a deer feeds extensively on a certain kind of berry, but that berry doesn’t grow well without significant watering, then that deer is in rough shape if its environment is going through a drought, right? Because the berry isn’t getting enough water, so it’s not growing, and the deer is going to have to adapt and find something else – but if there’s nothing else it can use as a substitute…it might run into problems.”

Louis whistled low. “That’s insane. And you do that every day?”

“Five days a week, Monday to Friday,” Harry responded cheerfully. “But, it’s not like I’m going all over the globe every other week. I work here, locally, so I’m knowledgeable about everyone and everything works in the forests here. I have to stay up-to-date, obviously, so if things are changing, I know about it, but for the most part, I know what’s going on.”

“So what’s the second job?’

“Oh, the second j – watch out up there, ladies; we’re coming up on a tight corner, alright? You guys hear me, back there?” After hearing the group respond and adjust their behaviors for safety, Harry continued, “I actually just write. I write pieces on wildlife and forestry, conservation, environmentally friendly products, stuff like that. Basically, it’s just a cluster-fuck of the things I care about, but I write for several magazines and a couple papers, and a few of my longer research essays have actually been published in briefs that are read over by government officials.”

“That’s amazing, Harry!” Louis exclaimed, insanely proud even though he had nothing to do with Harry’s success. “Oh my god, that’s so cool!”

Harry laughed, a little bashful, and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” he admitted. “I actually have been contacted by a few senators about some of my articles, which was – really surreal, you know? Because my work could help sway someone in power to start protecting the environment, so, like – I work really hard on my writing, even though a lot of it’s just fluff writing for magazines so they can feel like they’re doing something good.”

“I’m sure they’re great, Harry,” Louis said. Harry made to speak, probably to protest Louis’ expert opinion, but Louis cut him off, “I know I’ve never _read_ your stuff, Harold, but senators don’t just call people up if their writing is anything short of immaculate. So hush. I’d love to read some of your stuff.”

“I can send you some stuff later, if you want,” Harry said, sounding uncertain.

“Absolutely!” Louis confirmed. When he noticed Harry’s expression, he frowned. “What’s wrong? You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s – some of it is going to be kind of boring if it’s not the kind of stuff you usually read, is all,” Harry said. “It’s kind of –”

“Over my head?” Louis finished with a smirk. Harry looked apologetic, but Louis must have hit the nail on the head, because he didn’t disagree. “It’s okay, though – I don’t need to understand the full extent of the topic to see when writing is good. I might not get it or have studied it, and I might not even be interested, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to think you’re a crappy writer. If you’d rather me read your less-complicated stuff first, I’ll be more than happy to.”

Harry had this amazed kind of smile on his face, and he didn’t answer – just grabbed Louis’ hand and squeezed it for a minute, their palms swinging where they were connected. It was really sweet, seeing Harry look at him like that, Louis thought. Louis probably wouldn’t ever deserve looks like that from someone like Harry, but he’d take it gratefully and without questioning it.

“That being said, though,” Louis added, looking at him with a sly smile, “I _am_ pretty damn smart.”

“Yeah?” Harry replied, a teasing grin on his face. “What makes you think so, hmm?”

Louis squawked indignantly, though he knew Harry was joking, and said huffily, “I’ll have you know that I’m in the top _three_ percent of my class – and have been for the past three years.”

“That’s incredible, good job, Lou!” Harry said, looking appropriately impressed. “You’re a junior, then?”

“A senior, technically; I finished the year a few weeks ago,” Louis said.

“What are you in school for?” Harry was definitely paying attention, Louis could tell, but he suddenly veered off path for a moment and took a picture of a plant that, in Louis’ opinion, looked like it was dying a bit. “Sorry, that’s not supposed to be growing here,” he said, as if Louis had chastised him.

“It’s fine,” Louis said with a little laugh in his voice. Harry had just looked so fascinated; it was really cute.

“You were saying?” Harry reminded him, gesturing ahead of himself, and they continued walking.

“Oh, right – I’m gonna be a nurse,” Louis told him proudly, and Harry’s eyes lit up with excitement, his face changing completely.

“Really? That’s so cool! You’ll be a great one,” he added earnestly. “You’re so nice and you speak so well.”

“Thank you,” Louis said sincerely, touched by Harry’s immediate interest and support. Most people encouraged him to – or questioned why he didn’t _want to_ \- become a doctor, rather than ‘just’ a nurse, but Harry was so interested; it felt good to have that immediate faith in him.

“What kind of nurse?” Harry asked, looking between Louis and the map he’d just pulled out of his bag again.

“Ambulatory care, for now,” Louis said, “and I’ll have to keep going to school. Eventually, I want to be Nurse Practitioner, but that takes a master’s in nursing, so. I’ll have to work while I go to school, which will be hard. Not impossible, but definitely hard.”

“You want to work in an ambulance?” Harry looked at Louis like he was crazy. “I couldn’t do that; the pressure, oh my god.”

Louis sniggered as he shook his head. “No, no – ambulatory just means that I’d be working in places _other_ that traditional hospitals. I’d be dealing more with chronic illness and pain, injuries, that kind of thing. Really, it just depends on _where_ I get a job; that would tell me what I’d actually be doing.” He hated explaining ambulatory work, because it was so vague and could be so many different things.

Harry clearly didn’t really get it, but he nodded anyway. “Where would you _want_ to work?” He asked instead.

It made Louis smile that he was trying to understand something so clearly out of his field, and he answered, “I _really_ would love to work in a fertility clinic. If I could get a job working with in vitro fertilization, I think that would be top notch. Helping families grow, especially when it’s already difficult, would really be amazing to me.”

Harry was listening intently, watching Louis as he spoke, and Louis felt a little self-conscious for a moment, even though he knew it was silly to feel that way. This was his passion; he’d happily listened to Harry’s passionate speeches, and if Harry was worth it, he would feel the same.

“That’s…wow,” Harry said, his voice a little rough. Louis looked over at him, wondering what he meant, and his eyebrows rose when he realized Harry looked almost emotional.

“You okay?” He asked, frowning, and touched Harry’s hand.

“Yeah,” Harry answered, his hand turning over and grabbing Louis’ again. Behind them, Louis heard a wolf whistle. Ignoring it, Harry explained, “Sorry, I – my sister, Gemma, and her husband had to go through in vitro after – after a few miscarriages,” he forced out, clenching his jaw for a moment. Louis, his heart aching, squeezed Harry’s hand and rubbed at his skin with his thumb. Harry squeezed back. “It’s okay,” Harry lied, nodding, “it was a while ago, you know, but – yeah. So, anyway, she went through in vitro, and they had my niece. It’s also most likely how I’ll end up having children, other than adoption, so.” He cleared his throat and swallowed noisily, and squeezed Louis’ hand briefly. “Sorry,” he said with a grin, suddenly. “This is getting crazy deep for a group hike in eleven a.m.”

Louis didn’t laugh with him, but he did smile softly. “I don’t mind,” he replied gently. “I’m sorry about the miscarriages. I can’t imagine. But I’m so glad she was able to have so much joy in your niece.”

Harry looked like he appreciated Louis’ sincerity, giving him a tight smile that gradually grew. “She’s a riot,” he laughed, “worse than Gemma ever could be. I feel so bad for her; Molly in adolescence is going to be _hell_.”

Louis laughed, then, and the mood lightened, and they started trading stories of stupid things they did as teenagers. Their group joined in, then, as their voices got louder and others could hear the conversation, and Louis added after everyone’s stories, “Don’t ever do this to your mother – or to me,” sternly to the girls, making them all laugh and roll their eyes.

They stopped for lunch after a while, and another bathroom break, and once they started back up, Harry was in front, and Louis allowed himself to hang back a bit and observe. He hiked alongside Lottie and Perrie, mostly, and chatted with them for quite a bit before Perrie brought up their relationship.

“So…” she said suggestively. When Louis raised an eyebrow at her, Lottie snorted, and Perrie just jerked her head forward to Harry, whose shoulder Sam was riding again. A big dog named Bruce nearly tripped Louis, walking right up next to him, and Louis sighed.

“What?” He asked, already knowing what she wanted to know.

“You and Harry?” She replied, waggling her eyebrows at him.

“Ah, you’ve figured it out!” Louis said, acting a bit upset. Perrie looked interested, and Lottie stared blankly. “Well, I guess I have no choice but to admit it,” he sighed. He took a deep breath and said, “Harry and I had a one-night stand.” Perrie squealed, and Lottie gaped at him, but Louis continued, “And I got pregnant. I’m having his baby, and we’re eloping tomorrow after I get off work. Don’t tell Mom,” Louis added to Lottie, dramatically.

Lottie only giggled, but Perrie pouted horrifically, pushing Louis off the trail, making him yelp when he stumbled through a thorny patch and fell. Perrie gasped, her hands covering her cheeks, and ran to help him out. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?!” She asked – shouted – as she bent over, checking Louis’ hips and butt for thorns.

“What happened?” Harry’s voice called through the distance. He wasn’t that far ahead, but Louis still groaned, having hoped he wouldn’t be able to hear and see him picking thorns from himself.

“I’m all good; just fell,” Louis called back with a laugh, and several people snickered, but Harry pushed through, approaching Harry and looking at him critically.

“Hold on, hold on,” he said as Louis started plucking thorns out, and examined the thorn and looked at the tiny sliver of ankle that was exposed in the gap between the leggings and his sneakers. He nodded, then, and mumbled to himself as he squatted down and started helping Louis pluck out thorns from his legs while Louis handled the pricking needles on his hip and the few on his left palm, where he threw his hand out to catch his fall.

“Louis, I’m so sorry,” Perrie fretted, and Louis waved her off with a laugh and a fondly exasperated, “I’m _fine_ , relax!”

“What happened?” Harry asked, sounding casually disinterested as he worked, but Louis saw him glance up at him and over at Perrie, and noticed his shoulders were a little tense. Louis put a hand on his shoulder and acted like he was using it for balance, and noticed that Harry’s hands paused for a brief moment before they resumed holding his calf delicately, plucking out thorns quickly and efficiently enough that they didn’t sting (unlike the ones Louis plucked out).

“Ah, it’s not a big deal,” Louis said, over the top in nonchalance. “She just got a bit jealous, I reckon.” Perrie gagged, and Lottie started snickering, but Harry looked up at him with a frown. “Because we’re getting married, you know,” Louis said, with the same casual air he’d use to talk about making lunch. “Because you got me pregnant after our one-night stand.”

Harry didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared up at him, and Louis wondered in that split second if he’d taken it too far, if even making jokes about having sex would bother Harry. But Harry grinned up at him, a private smile just for him, and sighed, his face falling into a mask of frustration. “Louis, you weren’t supposed to _tell_ anyone,” he groaned, and continued plucking thorns, shaking his head angrily. “Now, Perrie’s gone jealous and violent, and the baby might remember that! What if our unborn child comes out a serial killer, now?”

Louis frowned. “All because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut,” he sighed regretfully. The group, which had all gathered around them, laughed at the dumb conversation, and Perrie grumbled even though she was laughing and _still_ winced every time Louis did.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled again, and Louis threw a thorn at her. She pouted and swatted it away, apparently not done. “I shouldn’t have pushed you; I didn’t think you’d fall!”

Louis laughed and then hissed as he pulled a thorn from his thigh. Around them, the group had bunched off in smaller groups, talking and resting, having a proper water break. Exploiting Louis’ misfortune as a relaxing moment. (Louis couldn’t blame them.) “Perrie, it’s seriously okay. I was ragging on you, you pushed me, I fell. I didn’t die and I’m not even hurt. It’s all good. Go relax a minute while we get these out of me, alright?”

Perrie’s lip stayed out, but she made a noise of acquiescence and turned away to go join the ladies, Lottie following her lead. Harry had gone tense again under Louis’ hand without Louis noticing, but when he gripped his shoulder harder as he reached behind him, he noticed and tapped two fingers on his shoulder blade. “Hey, what’s got you grumpy?” He asked, frowning. “You don’t have to get those out for me; I can do it,” he offered.

Harry shook his head, but smiled up at Louis. Well, it was more of a grimace, but Louis would take what he could get. He sighed as he kept working, but glanced up at Louis as he confessed. “It irritates me when people horse around in the woods,” he said. “Just a habit I learned from my mom when I was a kid. People get hurt when they joke around in the woods.”

Louis grimaced sympathetically, feeling a little guilty even though he hadn’t been doing anything. “She really didn’t push me that hard,” he said gently. “I just lost my balance and fell.”

“I know, I know,” Harry said, closing his eyes for a second. He opened them and smiled wryly. “But you wouldn’t have fallen if she hadn’t pushed you off balance.”

Louis took a risk and moved his hand up to scratch gently underneath Harry’s bun. His eyes closed and he leaned into it, involuntarily, it looked like, and Louis smiled. Noted. “I’m okay, though,” he said softly. “Just a few pricks and pins.”

Harry’s eyes stayed closed while Louis scratched at him, but he sighed and said, “I know.” After a moment, he added, “I’m glad. I was worried when I heard you cry out.”

Louis’ smile grew a little, but Harry’s eyes stayed closed, so he didn’t worry about it. “Thanks for coming running,” he said. “My hero.”

Harry snorted, then, and opened his eyes, straightening his neck and pulling his head away from Louis’ hand. Louis dropped his hand back down to Harry’s shoulder, and made eye contact with Harry that somehow seemed a little loaded. After a moment, Harry swallowed and looked back down to Louis’ calves, resuming his work. Louis followed his lead.

“I think I got all the ones on your legs down here,” Harry said after a few more minutes of silent plucking. “Seems like that’s where most of the thorns ended up.”

“I’m lucky,” Louis said, though he was currently twisted around, trying to pluck thorns from his ass, though he couldn’t see over it. “I think I’ve got all of them around my butt, too,” he added.

“Turn around,” Harry said helpfully, and chuckled when Louis did. “Not even close,” he said, and Louis turned around to look at him with wide eyes. Harry bit his lip and hesitated. “I’ll – do you want me to get them? So you don’t hurt yourself,” he added earnestly, and Louis absolutely believed he was being sincere, and not just looking for a reason to feel him up. (Louis wasn’t sure what it said about him that he’d almost prefer it if Harry _were_ looking for an excuse to touch on him.)

“Well, I don’t want you to leave them in there,” Louis said, amused, making Harry scoff. He stood still while Harry picked thorns from his backside, though, and after a while looked over his shoulder and saw how intently Harry was concentrating. “I know you’re back there for medical reasons, and all,” he drawled, “but I’ll have you know that what you’re getting in panoramic view, most people only get a glimpse of. Enjoy it while you’ve got it, mister.”

He laughed, then, and heard Harry snort and mutter something, and it sounded like he said, “Oh, trust me.” When Louis asked, though, he just told Louis he hadn’t said anything, but was almost done.

Steve looked over and laughed when he realized what was going on, and Louis took it in stride even as his cheeks burned a little bit. The group all joined in, making jokes about the situation, though they were careful to keep it clean for the girls’ sakes, which Louis appreciated. Daisy came over after a while and checked on Louis, kissing his knee and offering him some water, and she reported back to Phoebe, who’d been watching the entire time. Clearly, Phoebe had told Daisy to go check, ever the mastermind of the twins’ plans. They were so damn sweet.

“All done,” Harry announced, and stood up agilely. “Oh-” He paused to pluck off an errant thorn which had somehow lodged itself into Louis’ back, on his side, and then said, “Alright, _now_ I’m done.”

“Ready to go, then?” Lottie asked, and Harry checked his watch.

“Actually, we should start heading back,” he said, and Louis frowned guiltily.

“Sorry I took up so much time,” he apologized to the group sheepishly, but they all waved him off and protested, Perrie being the most vocal and demanding that she take the blame.

“It’s not anyone’s fault,” John said, placating everyone, and smiled. “It’s just getting late.”

Harry nodded, and smiled, and handed Felicite and Steve the map. “Lead us home,” he said, and they took a moment to orient themselves before agreeing on which way to go. Louis fell into step with Harry, just behind them so he could keep an eye on where they were going, and was surprised when Harry grabbed his hand.

“You’re being affectionate today,” he noted happily, smiling so that when Harry looked over at him, he’d see that Louis enjoyed it a lot.

Harry shrugged, his own smile on his lips, and replied, “I didn’t mean slow as a glacier; just that I want to be with you a while before we –” He cut himself off, then, looking ahead at Felicite, and looked back at Louis with raised eyebrows and tilted his head. _Before we have sex_ , the gesture read. Louis nodded.

“I’m with you,” Louis laughed. “I’m down for that.”

“Would you two just _date_ , already?” Jesy said, and it started off a whole round of the women and Louis’ sisters agreeing and talking about how ridiculous they were being. Louis and Harry looked at each other and smiled, rolling their eyes at their group. They knew what they were doing.

\---

_Good morning! Hope you’re not too sore and the thorns didn’t end up hurting overnight. Make sure you stretch before you go to work and try to move around a lot today. See you soon!_

Louis smiled and allowed himself to respond before getting up out of bed. _I haven’t felt any soreness yet…but that’s probably bc I’m too afraid to move yet. Will update when I find the courage to get out of bed. Good morning, by the way. :)_

At drop off, Harry came with a small mug of tea for Louis again – this one normal-sized, and had the right amounts of sugar in it. “How sore are you?” Harry asked, and leaned in to kiss Louis’ cheek.

Half his face burning, Louis smiled, and replied, “Not too excruciating, but I _did_ swear when I sat down to put my socks and shoes on.” Harry laughed, and Louis whined, “You didn’t tell me I’d be _sore_ ; we just walked a lot!”

“I told you,” Harry said, smiling and shaking his head, “I told you hiking isn’t just walking. You didn’t listen.”

Louis rolled his eyes and smirked. “Thank you for the tea,” he said. “You don’t have to bring it every morning, you know.”

“I know,” Harry said simply, blinking at him. He offered no other reply, so Louis just snorted.

“Well, I appreciate it – but I have to go, or I’ll be late.”

“Have a good day,” Harry said, smiling and biting his bottom lip to try and hide it. He sucked at hiding his smiles, though, and Louis was glad.

He drew his hand down Harry’s arm and backed away, calling out goodbyes to the girls, and gave Harry one last lingering look before he got into the car and left.

\---

“So basically, you’re in love,” Zayn deadpanned. Louis hated him.

“I’m not in love,” he sighed, stealing one of Zayn’s fries. Zayn scowled at him, but Louis didn’t shy away. He knew better than to bring good-smelling food into Louis’ place of work. Louis only had so much self-control, and he was only one man. “I just like him and find him fascinating and want to spend more time with him.”

“And fuck him, and stay at his place all the time, and braid his hair, and –”

“Alright, shut the hell up, because now you’re just being a dick. What I say when I’m wistful and complaining shouldn’t be used against me,” Louis scolded.

Zayn looked unrepentant, and chewed on his fries with a blank stare on his face. “Then maybe you shouldn’t say it,” he said. Louis gaped.

“What the hell?” He asked in a dramatic gasp. “Should we talk about what you say when you’re drunk? Because I’m sure _Liam_ would love to know.”

Zayn sat up straight, then, and blushed. “Shut the fuck up,” he said, no heat in his words. He wouldn’t look at Louis, and Louis knew Zayn wouldn’t ever be a dick about Harry again.

“When you want to talk about it sober, you know I’m here,” Lou said, kicking Zayn gently with his foot.

“I know,” Zayn muttered. “So. Harry. When are you going to date him?”

Louis sighed. “I’m letting him set the pace,” he said, “so…whenever he asks me out? I guess? The last time I moved slow was when I was dating a girl in middle school, and I only moved slow because the thought of doing anything disgusted me. So…”

Zayn laughed, but nodded, as if he understood, as if he weren’t attracted to girls, too. Filthy liar. Still, Louis appreciated the understanding.

“I spent all day with him yesterday, though, and he was so fun. We just talked, like, all day long, until he had to lead the hike, and then when I fell, he was so gentle and thorough in making sure I wasn’t hurt. And he’s so sweet, and _so fucking hot_. Zayn, he’s so flexible. I could bend him in half and he wouldn’t even care.”

“Damn,” Zayn said, impressed. “So…why are you waiting, then? Didn’t he say he definitely wants to date you? Ask him on a date!”

Louis shook his head, though. “No, he already said he wanted to take me out, so I’m gonna wait until he asks me. I’ll definitely ask him out for a second date, though. Promise. I want him to realize that I’m just as invested as he is; I just want him to make the first moves, is all.”

“Fair enough,” Zayn said reluctantly. “I’m ready for –”

“Louis! Your break ended five minutes ago. Come on!”

Louis closed his eyes and prayed for patience as his coworker – not even his fucking _boss_ , but his coworker – called at him from across the campus store. “Coming,” he called back, irate, and Zayn’s eyebrows rose up.

“Sounds like you two are getting along,” he muttered.

“I can’t fucking stand him,” Louis hissed, but stood to come back to the counter. “Drives me crazy.”

“Right. Well, have fun with all that, and I’ll see you later,” Zayn laughed and fist bumped him, and then left, back upstairs to his own job.

\---

Louis got out of the car and leaned against it, letting the girls continue to play and roll around in the grass and dirt with the dogs. He snapped his fingers a few times, down by his thigh, and saw Sam’s ears twitch. The cat started jogging over towards him and hopped up on the car, rubbing his body against Louis’ hand and side.

Louis picked him up and saw Harry approaching him, so he smiled and started scratching at Sam’s belly, relaxing more heavily against his car.

“Hey, you,” he greeted a very sweaty Harry.

“Hey,” Harry answered, coming to stand in front of Louis. With Louis leaned against the car, Harry towered over him even more than usual, and Louis found he _really_ liked it. “How was work?”

“The usual,” Louis shrugged, “nothing too crazy. I have a new coworker I want to strangle, but I’ve resisted so far.”

“Your restraint is truly inspiring,” Harry said solemnly, and Louis nodded imperiously.

“And don’t you forget it,” he said, making Harry smile. “How was _your_ day?” He asked.

“Good! We got a lot done today, so it was really good,” Harry answered, looking breathlessly excited. “Phoebe got to help lead us back, and only got us lost twice, which – considering how far out we were, I’d say is pretty awesome.”

Louis chuckled, and Sam decided he had better things to do, and hopped out of his arms. “Oh, well, bye, then,” he called sarcastically to the cat, and Harry laughed.

“He’s very popular; can only allocate small amounts of time to his adoring fans,” Harry said, looking contrite. “I’ll speak with him and ask him to give you just a tiny bit more to make you feel special.”

“I appreciate it,” Louis answered, and breathed out a little laugh through his nose.

“Hey, are you doing anything this weekend?” Harry asked, biting at his lip.

Louis’ heart started pounding, and he smiled. “Nothing that can’t be moved around,” he answered. “Why, what’s up?”

“I was thinking about taking you on that date we talked about, if you’re up for it,” Harry said, giving Louis his best winning smile. Louis didn’t tell him he didn’t need to be won over, because he didn’t want Harry to ever stop smiling like that; it was breath taking.

“I could probably pencil you in,” Louis grinned, and Harry bowed in thanks.

“Tomorrow night? Pick you up at six?” Harry asked.

“Mmm, better let me pick you up or meet you,” Louis hedged, thinking that if Harry ever pulled up at his house, they’d never get out because his sisters and mom would never let them leave. “Big family, nosy women at every turn,” he explained with a wrinkled nose.

Harry laughed. “How about I meet you at Teasedale’s, then?” He asked. “We can go from there.”

“That sounds good,” Louis said, and Harry beamed, looking ecstatic. Louis’ body was thrumming with excitement, too. “Is it lame to tell you I’m really excited that we’re finally going out?” He said in a low voice, and Harry grinned.

“No,” he said slowly, shaking his head with a smile that made him look a _little_ crazy. “I’ve been thinking about taking you out nonstop for a while, now. I’m glad you said yes.”

Louis smiled. “Can I kiss you?” He asked, and Harry bit his lip and nodded.

“Thank you for asking,” he said, and leaned in when Louis wrapped a hand around the side of his neck and pulled him in gently.

It was a soft kiss, and Louis couldn’t get enough of how soft this man could be when Louis just _knew_ he was probably chiseled like a fucking statue underneath his clothes. When they pulled away from each other, Harry bit his lip immediately to try to hide his happiness (he failed). Louis’ expression was probably similar, because he felt like he could burst. If this was how he felt just from making the plans for the date, how was the date going to actually be?”

\---

_Since you won’t tell me what we’re doing, what should I wear?_

Louis growled as he stressed and tossed his phone down on to his bed.

“Just wear something you’ll be comfortable in,” Liam said. “But don’t you dare reach for _anything_ athletic,” he snapped when Louis opened his mouth. Louis deflated. The tracksuits were out, then. “Louis, you’re acting dumb; you know how to dress!”

“I know how to dress to _pull_ ,” Louis corrected. “That’s not what I’m doing tonight.”

“Okay, then just dress how you would when you’re going out and want to look decent!” Liam answered, exasperated.

Louis’ phone buzzed, then, and he snatched it up, greedily reading the text like it was a treasure he had to guard with his life. _I’m wearing jeans and a band tee. Please don’t stress about how you look. You always look great and I want you to be comfortable. First dates are awkward enough sometimes and I want to have fun tonight._

He read the text out loud to Liam before sending back a few heart emojis and the praying hands and a simple _thank you! Also, I’m really excited._ He tossed the phone back down and grabbed his best jeans, tossing them onto the chair at his desk. “Alright,” he said, hands on his hips. “I’ve got the pants; which shirt am I wearing?”

“Go for the scoop neck,” Liam said, firm in his decision. “It’s casual enough with jeans that you won’t stand out and look weird next to Harry, but you still look damn good in it. Shows off your collarbones, your tattoo, _and_ it falls right over the top of your butt, which makes it look even bigger.”

“Wow, you really pay attention to the way I dress, don’t you?” Louis asked, thankful but dumbfounded.

“I like clothes,” Liam said flatly, and held up two scoop necks. “Come on, come on,” he urged, gesturing impatiently. “Which one? Pick.”

“Stripes,” Louis decided on an impulse, and his outfit was decided. He only wore Vans, really, so he’d be just fine. “Thanks, Li,” he added gratefully. “And thanks for keeping an eye on the girls ‘til Mom gets home.”

“’Course,” Liam said gruffly, rolling his eyes, but the tips of his ears were pink – a classic Liam tell. “You know they’re easy to watch. Give ‘em books and feed them a few times a day; they basically take care of themselves. Like cats, or something.”

Louis snorted; he wished it were that easy to take care of four little sisters! “Mom will be home around eight, so it shouldn’t be too bad,” he said, and Liam just rolled his eyes.

“Go shower; you’re annoying me,” he said, and pulled out his phone, probably to play Bubble Witch until he lost all his lives.

Louis grinned and pressed a sloppy kiss to his temple before walking off to a shower.

\---

When Louis turned into the parking lot of Teasedale’s, he saw Harry already parked and leaning against the hood of his car, on his phone. Louis got out and locked his car, walking up to his _date_. “Hey,” he greeted, and Harry automatically locked his phone and put it away, looking up at Louis with a happy smile.

“Hey,” he said happily, standing up straight to kiss Louis’ cheek. “So – are you hungry yet, or do you want to go do some stuff and eat later?”

“Mmm, let’s eat later, somewhere else,” he decided. If they went in together, he knew Lou wouldn’t leave them alone.

“Good thinking,” Harry said, probably having the same train of thought. “In that case,” he said, walking around to the passenger door and opening it, waving Louis in, “onward, we march.”

Louis grinned and hopped in the car, thanking Harry, and when Harry started up the car, he pulled off, driving a little faster than Louis typically did, which surprised him – Harry always seemed like a very methodical person.

“Are you a speed demon?” He asked with a laugh, and Harry grinned.

“Not really,” he said. “I don’t ever go more than five over. _But_ , I never speed in school zones or residential areas.” Harry said it as a matter of fact, nodding resolutely, and Louis believed him.

As they drove, they chatted about their days, talked about their families and political views. It was a dangerous topic for a first date, politics, but Louis reasoned that he’d rather know _now_ if Harry was secretly a racist, sexist dickhead than finding out after a few months of dating him. Harry had laughed when Louis said it, and was quick to assure him that he definitely voted for Hillary.

“Not Bernie?!” Louis screeched, making Harry laugh.

“I loved a lot of his ideals,” Harry defended, “but he was never going to win. He’s just _too_ liberal, and while my liberal heart loved it, his ideas and views were _too_ radically different for anyone but extreme liberals to vote for him. Everyone knew Bernie wouldn’t win, unfortunately. Maybe in later years, hopefully, but voting for him, to me, seemed too defeatist. Clinton was always going to be the primary candidate.”

“Fair enough,” Louis conceded. “I don’t like it, but it’s a good point.”

“That Donald Trump, though,” Harry whistled. “What a guy. What. A. Guy.”

Louis burst into laughter, Harry immediately joining in, and said, “You’re lucky I know you’re joking!”

“I regret even saying it,” Harry said through giggles. “It felt like poison coming out of my mouth, if I’m completely honest with you.” His eyes stayed open, focused on the road, but his nose was crinkled up and his mouth was wide and happy, dimples indenting his cheeks and his beautiful teeth on display.

They talked about exercise, things they were afraid of, pet peeves, social media…everything that came to mind. Louis learned that Harry liked class exercises, but hated to work out alone because he got lonely and bored easily, and that he also really liked outdoor or extreme sports to keep his body fit. Louis revealed his interest in sports like that, in addition to his lack of experience with it. Harry promised to introduce him safely, making Louis beam. Louis also learned that Harry _hated_ squirrels, because when he was little, a squirrel ran up his leg and took his sandwich from his hands while he was sitting on a park bench. Louis laughed uproariously, but to make him feel better, told Harry that he was afraid of catfish, thanks to a documentary about them and how they grow to absurd sizes and sometimes eat people. They talked about smacking while eating, being on their phones while they were with people, people who laughed obnoxiously for attention, and people who justified their behaviors based on their astrological signs. “But I only hate it because I’m an Aquarius,” Harry said, nodding wisely, and Louis spat out laughter.

They pulled up to a weird-looking building with giant butterflies for the sign, and Harry flashed Louis a grin. “You’ll love this place,” he said confidently. “Something you’ve mentioned before once or twice that I remembered, and I knew instantly that I wanted to bring you here one day.”

Louis got out of the car and followed Harry in, curiously, and thanked Harry when he opened the door for him. Inside, there was a woman at the desk who smiled politely when they approached. “Welcome to the Butterfly Factory,” she said, and grabbed some pamphlets. “Have you been here before?”

“I have,” Harry said with a grin. “Harry Styles.”

“Harr- oh!” The woman’s eyes lit up in recognition, and Louis raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was a little impressed that Harry’s very _name_ could get a reaction like that. “Welcome back, then,” she said with a happy grin. “Come to see some of your friends?”

“Something like that,” Harry said with a grin. “Could we get the full package?” He pulled out his wallet and handed over his card before she even rang up the total.

“I can –” Louis moved to pull out his wallet, but Harry was having none of it.

“I’ve got it,” he said with a soft grin. When Louis tried to argue a bit, he grabbed Louis’ wrist in gentle hands. “How about I let you pay for our next date, since this one was my idea?”

Louis grimaced, but agreed, putting his wallet back into his back pocket. “Fine,” he said, “but don’t think I’ll forget.”

“I would never.” Harry looked amused, and when he looked back at the woman at the desk, she was smiling.

“Here at the Butterfly Factory, we have several thousand species of butterflies.” Louis breathed in sharply. He didn’t even _remember_ telling Harry about how he liked butterflies – even had a small tattoo on his upper thigh, where nobody would see it unless he was naked – but he clearly had, and Harry had remembered. The woman spoke on, oblivious to Louis’ emotions. “You will be able to walk through several rooms and see all of them. These accessories,” she gestured to a hat covered in flowers, a wrist band that was colorful and had some kind of plastic feeder on it, and a vest that looked like a traffic safety vest, “will attract them to you, so you can get a closer look. The butterflies will land on you, because you will look bright and smell like nectar, which is in the flowers and this feeder, on the wrist band. You’re welcome to touch and take pictures, but please stay on the path, and please don’t use flash on your camera, as it disorients the butterflies and can hurt them. If you have any questions, staff are walking around and will be easy to find. It’s usually pretty slow this late in the evening.”

“You’re not closing soon, are you?” Louis worried. “I don’t wanna be _that_ asshole.”

Harry giggled, and so did the woman, who answered, “We don’t close until ten p.m. on the weekends.”

“Oh, sweet, cool,” Louis said. He took his accessories – Harry had the same ones in a pile in front of him. “Thank you so much; this is awesome.”

“Thank _you_ ,” she replied with a smile, and walked off into the back room.

“Alright, let’s get you sorted,” Harry muttered, and took the accessories from Louis’ hands and set them back down. He grabbed the vest, looked Louis in the eye, and smiled, and helped Louis into it, fastening it over his chest. Louis was blushing under his ministrations, embarrassed – but enjoying, at the same time – all the attention Harry was giving him. Harry picked up Louis’ left hand and slid the band over his wrist, holding it delicately between his fingers. It was a habit he’d picked up, Louis noticed: holding Louis’ wrists.

“I love how small your wrists are,” Harry muttered to him as he grabbed the hat. He made eye contact with Louis, then, whose eyes were a little wide, and asked, “Is that weird?”

“Well, seeing as how my wrists are actually very thick and manly, yes,” Louis said after clearing his throat, and Harry exhaled a little laugh through his nose at him.

He put the hat on Louis, then, and grinned – Louis was sure he looked silly. “Do me?” Harry asked, and Louis smiled.

“Sure,” he answered, and picked up the clothes.

He put Harry’s vest on, having to reach to get it around Harry’s tall, broad shoulders, and when he fastened the buckles, he noticed that Harry’s chest was strong, and his torso rock-hard underneath Louis’ hands when he pressed against them. Louis swallowed. He put on the wrist band and paused, pushing Harry’s fingers out so that his hand was open wide, his fingers splayed, and Louis stared when he put his palm up against Harry’s and found that his own hand was nearly half the size of Harry’s. “Jesus Christ,” he exclaimed, and Harry laughed.

Louis reached up, and Harry ducked his head, to put the hat on his head, and Louis mussed up his curls as he relaxed his arms, not wanting to stop touching his silky hair.

“Thanks,” Harry said softly. Louis wondered how Harry was so skilled at taking random moments and making them feel intensely charged. He wondered if it was normal, but he’d never experienced it before Harry.

“Sure thing,” he said.

The tension was getting unbearable, in moments like these. Louis thought he would surely die before they did anything about it, but he also knew he would never push Harry into making a decision he didn’t want to make.

Harry was the first to shake himself of the stupor, smiling and grabbing Louis’ hand to pull him into the Factory’s first room. “Ready?”

Louis nodded, squeezing Harry’s hand. “I didn’t even realize they _had_ a place like this around here,” he said. “Also – why do they know you here? You’re not secretly a celebrity, and I’ve just been living under a rock, are you?”

Harry snorted and pushed open the first door. “Not a celebrity,” he said, “but I’ve caught quite a few butterflies for this place. When certain species’ populations drop, I try to find them if I can and bring them here, so they can be protected and not die out. Admittedly, it’s not the most logical way to do it, and these butterflies probably aren’t living their best lives, or the lives they were destined to live naturally, but.” He shrugged, a little bit of a frown coming on his face. “I don’t want the beautiful things in the world to die out because we haven’t learned as a species how to take care of the planet.”

Louis nodded, agreeing even though he didn’t really do anything to help the planet, himself. He recycled milk cartons, sometimes.

The door led to a giant, open room, but they were obstructed by thick, black rubber flaps that covered the entryway, keeping the insects from escaping the safety of the room. When Louis pushed through the flaps, the first thing he noticed was how hot it was. Stifling and humid, Louis knew he’d be sweating in no time, and wished he’d have put his hair up and out of his face, instead of leaving it down, like he knew Harry liked. Ugh.

The room was bright, and had massive flowering bushes and trees everywhere. Even more than the flowers, though, were the butterflies. There were so many different kinds – big and small, colorful and monochromatic, sharp-edged wings and rounded, flying fast and slow. Louis had never seen many of them, and Harry explained that this was the tropical room, where butterflies who typically lived in incredibly hot places were kept.

He pulled a laminated folder that looked kind of like a menu from a bin that hung on the wall and handed it over to Louis. “This is a list of all the butterflies in this ecosystem,” he explained as he grabbed another one for himself. “Want to see if we can find all of them?” When he turned back around, he gasped. While Louis asked what was wrong, he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of Louis, who was sure he looked stupid because he was too busy frowning and trying to understand why his date was spazzing out randomly. “You’ve got some passengers,” he said with a grin, staring at Louis’ head.

Louis took Harry’s phone when he offered and saw that there were several butterflies on his had already, fluttering on the flowers on it. “Wow,” he breathed. “That’s fucking crazy, oh my god.” He handed the phone back and lifted his head up slowly to look at Harry, not wanting to dislodge the butterflies resting on his head. Giggling a bit, he said to Harry, “I’m afraid to move, now!”

Harry laughed and shook his head, holding the butterfly list and his phone in one hand so he could hold Louis’ in the other. “They’ll be fine,” he promised. “Butterflies are used to high winds, so they actually have pretty good staying power once they’ve landed. Come on – the deeper we go into the room, the more will land on us!”

They tried to spot as many as possible, and Louis upped the ante by saying they should get pictures of every kind _on_ one of them, so it was a while before they left the first room. Harry was having a good time, and Louis could see it, but he was also pretty sure it was _nothing_ compared to how great of a time Louis was having. Surrounded by – and covered in – butterflies was a situation Louis never thought he’d experience, but it was so cool, and he knew he’d never forget this date for several reasons.

Once they had pictures of every type of butterfly, they approached the exit doors, where there were high-powered fans pointed down at them just above the rubber flaps. There was also a staff member by them, who asked them to take off their hats and allow her to gently remove any butterflies still on them. They did, and once the hats were bare of butterflies, she turned the fans on. It ruffled their vests, and their hair, making Louis laugh because Harry’s mane was going all over the place. Most of the butterflies were blown off and corrected themselves in the air and flew away, but a few stubborn ones stayed on their vests. The staff member, a teenager, laughed a bit and gently picked them off before ushering them through the flaps and into the next door.

“That was so fucking cool,” Louis said, and Harry grinned.

“I’m glad you’re having a good time,” he said earnestly.

“Are you kidding? I’m obsessed with butterflies,” Louis answered, feeling a little giddy.

As they walked through the door, Harry secured his hat back onto his head and said, “I meant to ask you about that – why butterflies?”

Louis didn’t reply at first, too busy staring at this room. It wasn’t nearly as humid, though still warm, and Louis wiped his forehead and put his hat back on. These butterflies seemed more active, and Louis stared in awe as they zoomed around, flocking to him and Harry. Immediately, he took a picture of Harry, who had four different kinds of butterflies on him. “I don’t really have a reason,” he said honestly. “I just think they’re beautiful, and cool. There are so many different kinds, and I’ve never seen an ugly butterfly. That’s something I can’t say about any other animal I’ve seen in real life.”

“Fair enough,” Harry laughed, taking a picture of Louis. “The ones in here are more colorful,” he noted.

Louis frowned, thinking back. “Not really,” he said, “just different colors, I think. The ones in the last room were more neutral colors, but they had a lot of different colors on them.” The ones in this room, it seemed, had brighter warm colors to them. Pinks, reds, and some purples. “Where are these ones from?” He wondered aloud, looking on the list.

Harry found it first – either that, or he didn’t have to look; Louis wasn’t sure – and replied, “Europe, looks like. The warmer part of Europe and Asia.”

“Cool,” Louis said. He pulled up his picture, then, and added, “Alright, so – you have a False Apollo, ooh, and – oh, fancy, I think this one’s a Chinese Windmill. What a crazy name, right?”

“Is this one a Fivebar Swordtail?” Harry asked, zooming into his picture.

Louis peered at it, and then at the list. “Mmm, it looks a little different…Oh!” Scanning over the list, he pointed to a different butterfly with yellow on its tiger-stripes. “No, I think it’s a Scarce Swallowtail, see? The Fivebar only has the stripes on the outside of them.”

Harry brought the phone up close to his face and nodded. “Right, okay,” he said, nodding. With a silly grin, he looked at Louis and said, “You should be doing _this_ for a living; you’re better at it than me!”

Louis rolled his eyes. “I just looked at a picture, dork. I’m not trekking across god-knows-where to actually _save_ them like a crazy mountain man.”

Harry cackled loudly and clapped a hand over his mouth, and the black and blue butterfly that had landed on his wrist to eat flew away. “Oh no! I didn’t get a picture of that one,” he said sadly.

“It’s okay,” Louis consoled, snapping a picture of Harry’s shoulder. “There’s one on your vest.” Peering at the list, though, he pouted. “Well. It _might_ be the same one. Jesus, how many black and blue butterflies does Asia _have_?”

“Too many,” Harry mumbled darkly, staring at Louis’ screen and darting all over the list.

“This one’s hard!” Louis said, laughing. “Damn you, Asian butterflies!”

They traveled through several more rooms, and Louis’ stomach started growling, but he knew there was no way he’d be leaving to go get food. He was having way too much fun on this date with Harry. Eventually, though, he looked down at his phone and realized it was 10:15. “Oh, shit!” He said, looking up at Harry with wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked with a frown.

“It’s a quarter past ten!” Louis exclaimed. “They were supposed to close fifteen minutes ago.”

“Oh, wow, I can’t believe we’ve been here three and a half hours,” Harry said breathily. “Jeez.”

“I know, right?” Louis said, feeling like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. How did he not realize?”

“We should go,” Harry said with a frown. “They’re really nice here; I don’t want to piss them off for making them stay so late.”

Louis laughed. “We’ll have to come back again some time and finish the other rooms. How many are left?”

“Only two, I think,” Harry said, “but yes, definitely. We can see butterflies from all over the world, and it’ll be great.”

Louis smiled, and they let the staff member in the Africa room take butterflies from their bodies, and they left out of a side door she showed them, which circled into the main entrance area. The same woman who greeted them was who they turned their accessories into, and she chatted with them about hoping they had a good time and invited them back again. Harry took Louis’ hand – he’d been holding his hand almost the entire night, Louis noted with glee – and they walked out, and Louis’ stomach growled.

“The moment you told me it was so late, my stomach started hurting,” Harry admitted. “Guess it’s time for dinner?”

Louis groaned. “Please. I’m starving.”

“Were you hungry long?” Harry asked, looking concerned. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Louis looked at Harry like he’d lost his mind. “Like I would leave a place like _that_ so I could go eat!” He responded, and Harry laughed as he opened his door so Louis could get in. “Thank you,” he added, and when Harry got in on his side, he continued, “I eat every day. Several times a day. I don’t go to the Butterfly Factory often enough to feel like I could ever leave it voluntarily – especially not while I was in the _middle of it_!”

“Okay, okay!” Harry laughed as he started the car, surrendering. “I’m really glad you had such a good time there.”

“I had an _amazing_ time, Harry,” Louis said earnestly. Harry hadn’t started driving yet, so Louis put a hand on his knee. Harry looked over at him, and Louis swallowed, licked his lips, and said, “This has already been the best first date I’ve ever had.”

Harry stared at Louis’ mouth, licked his own lips, and turned his body toward Louis. Quickly, he reached across and grabbed the side of Louis’ neck and gently pulled him in, kissing him harder than usual. His lips captured Louis’ bottom one, and Louis couldn’t help but give a small little whine when he registered how hard Harry was breathing. Harry’s tongue swept across Louis’ lip, then, and Louis opened his mouth just as Harry pulled away.

“Sorry, I –” Harry was breathing hard as he pressed his forehead against Louis’, eyes still closed and hand still cupped around Louis’ neck. “I can’t kiss you like that. Not tonight.”

“Why not?” Louis asked in barely more than a whisper. His hand left Harry’s knee and grabbed Harry’s forearm, thumb sweeping the tiny little knobby bone on the side of Harry’s wrist, near Louis’ own neck.

Harry didn’t answer for a moment, and then he pulled away, leaving his hand on Louis’ neck. He opened his eyes and looked into Louis’. “I _really_ like kissing,” he confessed, stressing the word, and Louis understood the message.

He smiled dirtily and squeezed Harry’s forearm. “Noted,” he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively, and made Harry laugh, though he was still a little breathless. “For the record,” he added, “you mauling me like that was fucking hot, and you should do it all the time. When you’re ready.”

Harry’s nostrils flared, then, and he leaned in for another kiss, his other hand coming to fist Louis’ shirt. “It’s so fucking hot when you do that,” he said between kisses. Louis, who was growing a little desperate, just whined and nodded, not even sure what he was agreeing with. Anything was fine.

This time, when Harry’s tongue swiped his lip, Louis opened his mouth and Harry stayed close, letting Louis’ tongue meet his. The taste of Harry’s tongue was heaven, and the feel of their tongues sliding together was enough to make Louis’ thighs start flexing on the seat, trying not to get hard just from a few kisses. Harry leaned closer, and Louis was glad there was no center console, just a cup holder below the level of their seats – basically, nothing was keeping them physically apart. Louis knew it’d be pushing it to climb into Harry’s lap, but he pulled Harry closer still, until their chests were nearly touching.

Louis needed to breathe, so he moved away from Harry’s mouth. Unwilling to move from him in general, though, he began kissing down Harry’s jaw and down his throat. Harry moaned, quiet and long, and tilted his head to the side, and slid his arm around Louis’ shoulder to keep him close. “Fuck,” Harry whispered, and Louis sucked on his neck gently, not sure how he’d feel about hickeys.

Finally, Louis found the strength to pull away, aware that Harry was loving this too much. As smug and hot as that made him feel, he knew that he ultimately was also partially responsible for making sure that they respected Harry’s wishes. If Harry wasn’t ready for sex, there was a reason, and Louis didn’t want to be the kind of person who intentionally blew past someone’s boundaries, even though his dick was screaming otherwise.

Harry chased Louis a moment, but Louis kept pulling back and put a hand on Harry’s chest, keeping the distance. They were both panting, Harry’s cheeks bright red and his eyes looking sinful, glossy and pupils dilated enormously. His lips were swollen and red. If this was how he looked after making out, Louis wondered how he’d look after sex. The thought made his dick ache, though, so Louis tried to push it away.

“Sorry, sorry, shit,” Harry panted. After a second, he started giggling.

Louis started snickering with him, and their laughter grew, contagious and encouraged by one another. Louis didn’t even really know why they were laughing, but Harry looked so fucking cute like this that he couldn’t stop it if he tried. He wondered, briefly, if this was how his life would be with Harry in it.

\---

Louis and Harry saw each other several nights out of the week, usually ending up at Harry’s place. Louis took him on a date, deciding to go bowling, and they were both pretty sad at it. It was fun, though, and they spent most of it talking shit neither of them could back up. Harry was insanely competitive, Louis learned, but very gracious at both winning and losing, and Louis had never had so much fun while sucking at a sport. He kept the goofy, terrible jokes coming, and wasn’t afraid to use physical humor in the form of falling over. Louis wasn’t entirely sure how much of the falling over and general clumsiness was intentional, but it was fun either way, and gave Louis an excuse to touch him under the guise of helping him stay stable.

Harry had taken Louis out a few more times, and they managed to go out on a date once or twice every week, spending time together at Harry’s on other nights just watching movies or playing with Sam and Catalie Portman.

When they saw one another in the mornings to drop off the girls, now, Harry always had a tea for Louis, and always kissed him, on the lips, only sometimes checking that nobody was watching. Some afternoons when Louis picked them up, Harry would follow them home and help out around the house until Louis’ mom came home after dropping Sam off at his apartment.

Jay liked Harry, Louis knew, though they’d only really _met_ once or twice, and for short amounts of time before Harry was begging off, promising to see Louis later.

When they spent time at Harry’s apartment in the evenings, they almost always ended up making out, breathing hard and groaning when they noticed they were both getting hard. It was difficult to pull away, then, but Louis forced himself to do it. Each time they were in that sort of heated situation, Louis noticed Harry always bit his lip and looked a bit anxious, and Louis started getting the feeling Harry wasn’t exactly prepared for sex. He started wondering if Harry was a virgin, but didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by asking. It’s not like it would matter to Louis either way.

Eventually, though, the topic was approached.

They were at Harry’s, and were currently ignoring their episode of _Kicking and Screaming_ because Louis had kissed Harry, plucking at his lips gently with his own. Harry had been surprised, but responded enthusiastically, and eventually, Louis ended up on his back, the couch firm beneath him, fingers in Harry’s hair at the base of his neck while Harry’s hands mapped Louis’ sides, their mouths moving furiously. Harry was moaning into Louis’ mouth, breathing heavily, and Louis tightened his fingers at Harry’s scalp and pulled back gently, knowing he should slow down.

Harry didn’t, though, just moaned hotly and moved to mouth at Louis’ neck, hot and wet. Louis tilted his head and breathed out shakily, more than willing to let Harry get carried away on his neck. He worked at a college campus store; a few hickeys wouldn’t get him fired. But it wasn’t long until Harry’s hips started grinding against Louis’, and Louis realized they were both hard. Usually, they slowed down at this point, but Harry’s hands tightened on Louis’ sides as he ground against him, pressing Louis down into the couch.

Louis let out a moan of his own, and one of his hands gripped at Harry’s back, scrunching up his shirt and scratching his back through it a bit. “Harry,” he warned a little breathlessly, but it only spurred Harry on. “ _Harry_ ,” Louis whined, throwing his head back. He flattened a foot against the couch and used it to push up, giving them more friction. “ _Fuck_ \- Harry, Harry, we have to stop.”

Harry froze, then, almost instantly, and Louis was both glad and filled with the urge to scream. When Harry mumbled against his neck, Louis ran his fingers through the man’s hair and asked him to repeat himself, still breathing hard. His dick had a pulse, and he could feel it, pressed up against Harry’s, as it was.

“I’m sorry,” Harry repeated, lifting his head up just enough that his lips weren’t pressed against Louis’ skin.

“It’s okay,” Louis soothed lightly, carding through Harry’s hair. “I wanted it.” Harry whined and dropped his head into the crook of Louis’ neck, and Louis laughed, hugging him tight. “I did,” he said. “But I don’t want to rush you into anything; not when you’re – you know.”

“What?” Harry asked curiously, wriggling around. He rolled off to Louis’ side, then, and propped himself up on an elbow, leaning over him. His lips were bright red and swollen; Louis pictured his cock sliding through those lips and shuddered.

“Like. New to this stuff,” Louis said carefully, not wanting to embarrass him. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m pushing it.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed, but he started smiling, looking completely confused. “What?” He asked with a laugh. His chest was still heaving a tiny bit, but he was getting it under control.

Louis carefully turned on his side, his position mirroring Harry’s so they could talk. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed of,” he comforted, putting his hand on Harry’s hip. He rubbed it up and down a few times. “I’m not, like, going anywhere, or anything. I’m in this, you know?” The admission was meant to be casual, but it felt big, and Harry’s face softened until his grin was huge and beautiful, him easily getting distracted by Louis’ confession.

“I’m glad,” he said softly, grabbing Louis’ hand. He twisted their fingers together and brought their joined hands up to his lips, kissed them gently, and pressed them against his chest. “But – I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Louis’ heart thumped. “No?” He asked softly, not sure if Harry was being honest or just trying to comfort _him_. “It’s okay if you are,” he added.

“Well – I’m glad,” Harry said, giggling, “but I’m not. Are you?”

Louis snorted. “Not quite,” he said. He watched Harry react to that, which was seamless; he clearly had already known that Louis wasn’t a virgin. He finally said, “I thought maybe that’s why you get so nervous when things get…hot, or whatever.”

Harry bit his lip to try to hide his smile, and it was (as usual) embarrassingly unsuccessful. “No,” he said after a moment. “I –” Harry sighed, and pushed himself into a sitting position. He nearly fell off the couch, and Louis laughed and copied him, scooting down so Harry could have one cushion and he could have another. Their knees were touching, then, and Louis never let go of Harry’s hand. Harry picked at Louis’ fingers before he admitted, “I’m not a virgin…but I don’t have sex a lot. I mean, I _haven’t_ had sex a lot.”

Louis swallowed, but nodded, because it really didn’t matter to him. “I don’t need you to be some kind of sex guru, or anything, baby,” he said. He squeezed Harry’s hand.

Harry huffed out a laugh, but he nodded, still not looking at Louis in the eye. After a while, he said, “I – I had a boyfriend, a while back, when I was in college.” He said it like he thought Louis would be upset, and it made him frown.

Rubbing at Harry’s hand, Louis said, “Baby, I’ve dated in college, too.” He felt a little helpless, like he didn’t know what Harry needed. Did he really think Louis would be upset about him dating in the _past_?

Harry shook his head, like there was a fly bothering him, and said, “Yeah, no, I – that’s not the point.” It eased the pressure in Louis’ chest, but he was aware there was still something bothering Harry, and it put him on edge. “I – he was a dick, yeah?” Harry finally - _finally_ \- looked up at Louis, who quickly nodded comfortingly. “He was a dick, and he didn’t treat me right. Never – like, he never abused me, or anything, it’s nothing like that, thankfully, but I – I was young, this was – I was twenty when we broke up, almost twenty-one – and he, uh. He was the second person I ever slept with. My first was in high school, not that it matters, but – he…”

Harry hesitated so much that Louis cupped Harry’s face. This had gotten emotional; he hadn’t meant for it to be so hard. “You don’t have to tell me, Harry,” he said gently. “I didn’t bring it up to pressure you into revealing all your secrets. If you’re not ready, and you want to make out and grind against each other ‘til the day we die, then that’s what we’ll do. I’m _in_ this. It’s okay.”

Harry smiled, looking almost shy, but he shook his head. “No, I need to tell you,” he insisted. “Thank you, though.” He stared at Louis, then, watching his face as he said, “Chris broke up with me because I was bad at sex.”

Well, _that_ wasn’t what Louis had expected. His mouth dropped open and he stared at Harry, who had gone red and was looking down at their hands. “I – to be honest, I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. He tightened his hands on Harry’s hand, though, when Harry went to pull away. “No, I – I can’t believe… he said you were bad at sex?”

Harry sighed. “It was – okay, so he was into, like…kinky stuff? And I just…wasn’t? He wanted me to push him around a lot and be really rough with him, and I was into it, like, a _little_ , but – Chris always wanted more than that. He never ever went further than what I was comfortable with, but he was never satisfied. I couldn’t – I couldn’t give him what he wanted, and he broke up because our sex life kind of…sucked. We barely ever had sex, and he never enjoyed what we did because he always wanted more.”

“I’m so sorry,” Louis said, and promptly couldn’t take it anymore. He crawled into Harry’s lap and crossed his ankles behind Harry’s back, folded his hands behind Harry’s neck. He pressed his lips to Harry’s and then buried his head between Harry’s neck and shoulder. “That must have felt terrible.”

“It’s okay,” Harry said, tightening his arms around Louis’ back. “I mean, it wasn’t when it happened; it felt terrible, but I haven’t really…”

Louis had to fight to keep his jaw from dropping. “You haven’t had sex in five years?” He asked, eyes wide. He tried not to look too judgey, but he just couldn’t believe someone who looked and acted like Harry wasn’t… “ _How_ has nobody tempted you to bed in five years?” He almost started feeling self-conscious, until he remembered that it wasn’t about him, and that Harry clearly _did_ want him.

“It’s not like I’m a saint; of course, I’ve been tempted,” Harry laughed. “I just – it’s kind of difficult. I know now that it was really just that we were sexually incompatible, rather than me actually being terrible in bed – at least, I hope – but it was kind of, you know. Killed the confidence, a bit.”

Louis nodded seriously. “Of course,” he said understandingly. “Being sexually incompatible is a huge problem for couples, because it leaves people unsatisfied and, like, builds resentment. It’s not a lack of skill, just a lack of agreement.” Harry gave him a half-smile, seemingly happy that Louis understood. “Do you…want to talk about what we like, then? Sexually? So we can see if we’re compatible?”

Harry stared at Louis, then, looking at him in awe, and Louis started feeling awkward, a little blushy. He squirmed underneath the weight of Harry’s gaze. “I would really like that,” Harry said, sounding touched.

Louis swallowed, then, and smiled. He nodded, kissed Harry so quickly that he barely had time to react, and hopped off Harry’s lap. “Alright,” he said, grab your phone. We’ll look up lists of turn-ons and –offs and talk about how we feel about them. We’ll be completely honest and discuss them, and see if our interests play well. Okay?”

Harry nodded and grabbed his phone from the desk where it had been, and they got started.

\---

Louis’ idea had been brilliant, apparently, because as it turned out, their sexual compatibility seemed pretty great. There were things Harry had said he was definitely interested in, like hair-pulling and the idea of Louis fucking his mouth, but had shyly expressed that, while he was totally into the idea of being submissive and being used a little, he also was into the idea of being more dominant, too. “I kind of like both? Depending, like. Sometimes I want one thing, and sometimes I want the other.”

Louis was probably more into being submissive, personally, but he could understand that sometimes, he’d probably want to take charge, and naturally, he found himself agreeing to try it out. “I can’t make promises,” he said honestly, “because I’ve never been in a relationship as, like, open as this one. I mean,” he rephrased when Harry looked confused, “I mean open, communicative, type. I haven’t ever felt comfortable enough with anyone to let them be rough; my relationships are typically pretty short-lived because it was usually more about physical stuff, rather than anything beyond that.”

Harry’s shy smile was slow to grow. “And this is…this is beyond?”

Louis looked at Harry and smiled, nodding. “Way beyond just physical with you, Harry.”

They continued going over things for the next few days when they were together alone, and once they both felt confident in what they and each other were into, Louis got the idea that it wouldn’t be long until they had sex.

But two weeks later after they agreed they understood and felt they were sexually compatible, they hadn’t done anything past making out. And Louis was fine with making out – he was! He had just thought they were past the nerves a little bit more.

Apparently, Harry was just waiting for the right time. He took Louis on another date – a night hike – and while Louis laughed at the goofy-looking head lamps they were wearing strapped to their foreheads and had been nervous he’d see some terrifying nocturnal animal that wanted to kill them, he was having a great time. They held hands some of the time, but most of the time, didn’t, as Harry kept a map he checked constantly and chivalrously held branches out of the way for Louis to walk past. Harry also kissed Louis a lot, making him giddy and bounce and dance in circles around Louis, who just laughed at how dorky he was.

As they were climbing a hill that Louis thought he’d surely die on, Harry stopped and asked him, “Hey, Louis. Are you my boyfriend?”

“Of course I am, dumbass,” Louis gasped with no heat behind his words.

Harry laughed, then, exalted and feeling relieved, and continued to haul Louis up the hill. “We’re almost there,” he said, and paused. “Boyfriend.”

Louis wanted to groan, but it came out as more of a laugh, unfortunately, because it made Harry smile like he was proud.

They got to the top of the hill and it plateaued out, allowing Louis to rest a moment. Harry stood behind him and wrapped his arms around Louis’ chest, pulling him back against him and standing still. Louis couldn’t quite catch his breath fast enough for Harry’s liking, though, apparently, because Harry pulled Louis’ arms up into the air, pushing his hands together. “Keep your hands up,” he instructed, rubbing up and down Louis’ stomach and chest. “It’ll stretch your lungs out and help you fill them up with air. Breathe slowly, too, as slow as you can.”

Louis tried to listen, but his arms got tired, and he tried to drop them. Harry caught his forearms in his grip, then, and yanked them back up. “I said keep your hands up, darling,” Harry said, close to Louis’ ear. He nosed at the side of Louis’ face and neck, inhaling his sweaty smell. “You need to listen to your hiking guide, you know. I _do_ know what I’m talking about.”

Louis’ spine tingled, and he felt a stirring in his gut at the gentle but demanding tone Harry was using. He wasn’t asking; he was demanding. Louis nodded, then, and kept his arms up in the air, helped by Harry’s grip, and breathed slowly. It wasn’t long until he felt better, then, and Harry kept touching him the entire time, fingers thumbing over his nipples harshly and dragging on the sweat-soaked shirt clinging to his chest and stomach. He also kept mouthing at Louis’ neck, despite his skin certainly being sweaty and salty from the exertion, and it was leaving Louis’ groin tightening. His dick was getting hard; he could feel it.

Louis whined, and allowed his back to arch a bit, his ass pushing into Harry’s dick, and Harry grunted. Swiftly, Louis found himself with his back pressed against a wide, solid tree, smooth and solid and cool against his back. Harry crowded the space in front of him, then, his headlamp flicked upward so it didn’t blind Louis, but Louis’ headlamp was still on and shone on Harry’s face. Louis gasped when he saw how turned on Harry looked, and how serious.

“Need you to be still,” Harry prompted in a murmur, and Louis nodded quickly. “And quiet. Don’t want to disturb nature at night.”

He kissed Louis’ neck, then, bodies pressed together, and Louis’ fingers found a little knot in the tree he could rest his hands on to keep them up so he didn’t get in trouble. Harry moved down Louis’ body, shoved his shirt up to his armpits and held it there with one hand while his other tweaked Louis’ nipple, making him moan. “Quiet, I asked,” Harry reminded him with a stern face, and Louis swallowed, nodding. 

“Sorry,” he whispered, and Harry nodded, pleased.

He continued on, twisting and playing with one of Louis’ nipples, and bent over to tongue at his other one. Louis clenched his stomach and curled his toes in his shoes, throwing his head back against the tree. He couldn’t watch Harry torturing him. Being touched like this – after weeks of being with Harry, and weeks of Harry teasing just by existing – meant that Louis was hyper-sensitive and probably wouldn’t last long. God, he hoped they were about to fuck.

Harry flipped his headlamp off, then, and reached to tweak the angle of Louis’. “I want you to watch me,” he commanded, and dropped to his knees on the ground. 

Louis let out a squeak, blurting out apologies when Harry paused and stared up at him, and Harry nodded, satisfied. He pulled down Louis’ leggings, leaving him only in boxers from the knees up. Louis’ dick was hard, pressed down against his leg by the underwear, and Louis pushed out his breath in short pants when Harry rubbed it with the flat of his palm. 

“Please,” Louis whispered, and Harry looked up at him with the devil in his eye. 

He leaned forward, then, and pressed his face against Louis’ cock, rubbing it like a cat, wanting to get Louis’ scent all over him. 

Louis was going to fucking die.

Louis wanted nothing more than to grab Harry by the hair and shove his mouth down on his dick, but he didn’t want to piss Harry off by moving his hands. His fingers tightened on the knot of the tree, and he squirmed against the trunk, struggling to get his body under control. 

Harry pulled apart the flap of Louis’ underwear and pulled his cock through it. “Fuck,” Harry breathed, and wrapped his hand around it. Louis’ head dropped against the trunk as he stared up at the leaves blocking his view of the sky. “Look at me,” Harry said, squeezing Louis’ cock a bit harder than he liked, and Louis snapped his neck back down to stare. 

Harry didn’t play around, then. He opened his mouth and shoved Louis’ cock down his throat. He sucked hard, and Louis let out a strangled noise he couldn’t help. “ _Please_ ,” he begged, his hips snapping up as he chased the heat of Harry’s plush lips. 

It made Harry gag, but he didn’t stop, just pulled off a bit to cough. Louis apologized, but Harry just smirked and shook his head. “It’s okay,” he said, his voice sounding rough. “I like to choke on it.” Louis wailed, then, when he started sucking his dick down to the base again. Louis’ pubic hair was pressing against the skin of Harry’s face, and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer. 

“Harry,” he warned, hips stuttering as he fucked into Harry’s throat. Harry pulled off, then, and threw a strong arm against Louis’ hips, effectively stilling him.

“Stop,” Harry commanded harshly, and Louis stilled completely. “Put a hand in my hair,” he ordered, and Louis hurried to comply, pulling the hairband from his hair and threading fingers into the hair on the top of his head, close to his scalp. “Keep your hips still,” he ordered, “and pull me down to fuck my throat. If you want to come, you need to work for it.”

Louis panted, and Harry kept one arm against his hips to keep him still, but relaxed enough that Louis could work. Louis went slow at first, and Harry created a tight, hot suction against his dick. It had Louis moaning, thinking he’d never had head so good. Harry clearly wanted it, humming eagerly, and he sucked in a breath through his teeth, hissing as Harry went down as far as Louis pulled him. 

He sped up soon, too close, and Harry never gave any resistance, even when he felt Harry’s throat fluttering over his cock, even when he gagged. Louis was shoving Harry up and down, pulling his hair tight enough that Louis saw tears building in Harry’s eyes, but he never gave up. 

Louis came with a groan, pressing Harry’s head down hard against his hips. He felt Harry coughing, sputtering against his skin, but it felt so good as his orgasm coursed through his veins. “ _Fuck_ ,” he shouted, feeling Harry swallow around him, struggling to keep his breath. When he let go, Harry pulled off with a cough, gasping, his breath coming in raspy. 

“Are you okay?” Louis asked, breathlessly. He squatted down in front of him, cupping Harry’s face and massaging his jaw.

“I’m fucking _great_ ,” Harry said, coughing as he spoke. His voice was shot, but he was grinning as he spoke, and Harry uncapped his water and fed it to him. He drank, but not too much, and then stood up, pushing their mouths together roughly. “Fuck, that was hot,” he mumbled against Louis’ tongue, teeth catching on Louis’ lips and fucking his tongue into Louis’ mouth. Louis could taste his own come in Harry’s mouth, and it made his knees weak. “Want you to suck me off, baby,” Harry rumbled against Louis’ lips, and Louis nodded with a whine. Harry pushed his shoulders down. 

Louis gingerly went down to his knees, knowing if he were to drop the way Harry had just done, his knees would be shot for days and he’d be relatively useless at work for a bit. He pulled Harry’s athletic shorts down, boxers down with them, and he didn’t bother teasing; he knew Harry wouldn’t last long. Five years and sucking your boyfriend’s dick for the first time; Louis was impressed he hadn’t already come.

“I won’t last long, _fuck_ ,” Harry groaned as Louis wrapped his lips around Harry’s cock.

“Fuck, you’re huge,” Louis said, his hand struggling to be tight around it. His cock was already wet, precome leaking all down his dick, and it made the glide a little easier, less dry and rough. He knew this wouldn’t be the best blowjob he’d ever given; he knew he’d have to practice to really take Harry even relatively well. Still, he knew he’d do his best. 

“Bet I could bring you here in the middle of the day,” Harry panted while Louis sucked at the head, as much as he could get in his mouth. He jacked Harry off, though, spitting and drooling over his cock as much as possible so it would feel good for Harry. “Bet I could fuck you right here, and anyone could walk by, bet you’d come so fucking hard, wouldn’t you?”

Louis panted and moaned over the head of his dick. Harry’s talk was turning him on, but he knew it was doing more for Harry than it was for him. The thought of fucking in front of someone was definitely hot for Louis, but dirty talk made Harry feel more powerful and made him feel more dominant, he knew from their conversations. It made Louis’ body feel hot, knowing that Harry was only working himself up because he was so turned on; he couldn’t even help it. 

“Will you come on my face?” Louis asked, jacking Harry off as fast as possible. “Want to leave the woods with your come on my face. Maybe someone will see, and they’ll know I’m yours.”

“ _Fuck_!” Harry pulled back and wrapped fingers in Louis’ hair, ripping off the stupid headlamp. The lamp fell away, casting them largely into shadows. He pushed Harry’s fingers away and pulled himself off, and Louis closed his eyes tightly and opened his mouth, tongue out flat. Harry groaned brokenly, fingers tightening painfully in his hair, and Louis felt splashes of come in his face. Harry’s cock rubbed up against his lips and he sucked on the head gently, tongue prodding at the slit as little drops of come pulsed out, onto Louis’ tongue and lips. Louis moaned at the light taste, and Harry shuddered, breathing shakily. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, Louis,” Harry breathed, leaning against the tree, his cock softening and hanging in Louis’ face. He brushed fingers through Louis’ hair, while Louis waited, eyes still closed, with his head tilted up so Harry could see the come splattered on his face. “You look so fucking hot. I’m sorry I went so fast,” he added, and Louis frowned. 

“It’s fine; I liked it,” he said with a grin, his eyebrows dancing even though he couldn’t open his eyes yet. “Plus – five years? I probably would’ve come in my pants.”

Harry laughed and straightened up, helping Louis stand. Louis felt thumbs pushing come away from his eyes. “I nearly did a few times,” he admitted, making Louis laugh. “Hold on, let me wash your face off,” he said, holding Louis still before grabbing the water bottle from Louis. He must’ve poured it on his hand, because Louis jumped and grimaced when Harry’s giant, wet palm rubbed come away from his skin. 

“Gross,” Louis whined, finally blinking his eyes open. 

“You said to come on your face,” Harry laughed, but Louis wrinkled his nose.

“I mean the wet hand,” he grouched, making Harry giggle. 

“Come on the face in the middle of the woods with no real way to wash it off? Go for it. Water on the face? Disgusting.” He laughed, and Louis snorted, shoving Harry over. It pushed him off balance and he squawked, holding his flaccid dick as he stumbled a few steps back. “Hey!” He said, but Louis was already running, scrambling for his headlamp so he could get away from him. 

\---

“Who would’ve thought you would be head over heels for some dorky, hippie mountain man dude?” Zayn mused. “Hi, princess,” he cooed as Catalie Portman mewed quietly from his arms. “Aren’t you so pretty? Yes, you are.”

“Or that you’d fall in love with him because of his cat,” Niall laughed. Liam squeaked in surprise as Sam jumped from Niall’s shoulders to Liam’s. 

“Or that the cat in question is fucking mental,” he grumbled, staying as still as possible. 

“Leave my child alone,” Louis chided, snapping his fingers. Sam used poor Liam’s shoulders as a springboard, parkouring off the shelves and random pieces of furniture in their - in Harry’s, Harry’s - apartment towards his favorite Dad.

It had been several months, and they were all in their - in _Harry’s_ \- apartment, waiting for Harry to get home from work. Louis had just finished his work for Thanksgiving Break, and for the first time in nearly twenty-two years, he would be spending it away from his family, going to visit Gemma and Anne. It would be the first meeting them, and he was nervous, but also incredibly excited. Jay had also only really agreed to not whine about Louis missing Thanksgiving day because he promised they would spend his birthday and Christmas at her house, and would travel to see Anne later over the course of the break.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to watch them?” Zayn asked, looking like he would bite anyone who tried to separate him from his new best friend, Catalie Portman. 

Niall snorted before Louis even got the chance to. “As if Harry would leave them,” he said, patronisingly petting Zayn’s hair.

“As if my mother would let me in the door without them,” Harry said as he opened the door with a grin. “Thanks for watching the apartment, guys,” he added to Liam and Zayn, who blushed and looked at one another. Louis almost made a sly comment about not fucking in their - Harry’s - bed, but he knew Zayn and Liam both thought they were being discreet about their newfound attraction to one another, so he stayed silent. 

“Remember, I’m right next door, so if you need anything, I can be right over,” Niall announced. Liam swallowed visibly. 

Harry came and kissed Louis’ lips, hugging him tight. “Ready to go meet my mom and sister?” He asked, pulling back with an excited grin. Louis would marry him tomorrow, if he asked. 

“Let’s go,” he said with a brave grin. He put Sam’s harness and leash on while Harry extracted Catalie Portman from Zayn’s clutches, promising to bring her back in a week and a half, and opened the front door. Sam ran off, his leash dragging behind him, and Louis watched as Harry and Cat followed. His best friends waved from the door of the apartment he’d practically (unofficially) moved into, and as he responded to a text from his sisters’ group chat promising to send pictures, he realized that this was everything he had ever wanted. 

It had all started with a fucking hiking cat.


End file.
